Senior Year Babysitter
by GabbyDunk
Summary: Rory and Tristan as seniors at Chilton.
1. Chapter 1

Based on GG - not my characters.

Question - do some bad words throw this into M rating?

He was walking away. He was walking away!

Her mind was spinning. "Take care of yourself, Mary." That's what he had to say to her? Take care of yourself. He breaks into a safe – full of money and stuff he didn't need – with his dumbass friends, using the key for god's sake, and gets caught and sent to military school. And he tells her to take care of herself. What the hell, she thought. It was so far-fetched, it sounded made up. But no. It was real. And the guy she'd only recently started to tolerate – fine, maybe more than tolerate, if she was being honest with herself – was being sent away.

It felt wrong. She didn't have time to analyze why it felt wrong, but it did. She panicked a little, because he was almost to the guy that had to be his dad. The guy who looked remarkably like him, except with brown spiky hair instead of blonde. The guy who was sending him to military school.

She took off running down the Chilton hallway. "Tristan! Wait!" She felt like an idiot, but she lifted her Juliet skirt to move faster. Skidding to a halt in front of them, she closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath. She looked up at the older man. "You're his dad?" When he raised an eyebrow and nodded, she pressed on. "I'm Rory. Rory Gilmore. He," she said pointing to Tristan, "calls me Mary, because he's a jackass. Most of his friends are jackasses, but he's become less of a jackass lately." She looked over at Tristan, who was standing there with his hands deep in his pockets, looking at her like she was crazy. "But he's not really like them. His friends. They're bored, lazy, and stupid. He's bored. He's a little lazy. But he's not stupid."

Ben Dugrey tried not to smile at this girl's rant. "I'm aware of that, Ms. Gilmore."

"He makes dumb decisions sometimes."

"I'm aware of that, too."

"This was a dumb decision. But you know - you know - he wasn't going to take anything from that safe."

His dad nodded again. "So why does he have to go to military school? He opened something that wasn't supposed to be opened. He didn't take anything. Actually," she turned to Tristan, "who opened the safe?" At his stare, "Come on, Tristan. Help me out a little here. Did you open it?" He gave a small shake of his head. "Okay, so he was there when someone else opened something that wasn't supposed to be opened. And, he didn't take anything. Aren't there any other options? Can't you ground him? Take away his Range Rover? Make him scrub toilets, or do dishes, or – hey – maybe read a book? Why does he have to go?"

Ben studied her while she made her pitch and waited until she finally lost steam. He ran a Fortune 500 company and made decisions, decisions that affected thousands of people, every day. But this one affected his son. Tristan had been getting into more and more trouble lately – mostly stupid pranks, like this one, but one day it was going to be bigger. Bigger than he could fix. Ben happened to be in town and home when this one happened, unfortunately for Tristan. And he'd made the snap decision that his son needed discipline – the boot camp kind of discipline. But maybe he didn't. Maybe he needed structure. Consistency. God knew, he and his ex-wife hadn't provided either. He'd spent all of Tristan's life working his way up the ranks of Dugrey Global and eventually taking it over when his own dad retired, and he hadn't been home much. And Tristan's mom, well, motherhood wasn't her thing. Tristan had largely been ignored. They'd fucked up. He'd fucked up. Maybe it was time to rectify that.

"Do you like school, Ms. Gilmore?"

She bit her lip. "Yes."

"Are you smart?"

She wrinkled her nose. "I'm number one in our senior class." Ben considered that. His son had sought out one person before he left, and it was the smart girl. Sure, she was pretty, too, and her eyes packed a punch, but this seemed like a change for Tristan. He hadn't been able to hear their exchange a few minutes ago, but he had watched it. The body language made him wonder.

"Okay. You've raised some interesting points. Maybe some valid points. Here's my offer. To you and to Tristan," he said looking at Tristan, too. "Tristan can stay under the following two conditions. First, he has to do better in school. You help him study and stay on him so he stays focused and does the work. Second, you're his babysitter. During the week, he goes to school and comes home. That's it, unless he goes somewhere with you. Same for the weekends. During the weekends, he goes with you on Friday and Saturday nights, or he stays home. You keep him out of trouble. We're only a couple of weeks into the school year. You get him through this semester, and he's off the hook."

Tristan started to talk, but Rory shook her head. "We just need a minute. Excuse us." She grabbed his arm and pulled him down the empty hall.

"So?" she asked him. "What do you think?"

"It's ridiculous. You can't be my babysitter for four months, Rory." He'd almost laughed out loud when he heard his dad's conditions. He was seventeen, and his dad was bargaining for a babysitter for him. Ridiculous.

"You can't go to military school, Tristan."

He leaned back against the lockers and bent forward, running his hands through his already messy hair. Looking at the floor, he said, "I don't know. How bad could it be?"

She fought the urge to reach out to him. "Don't be stupid. You can't go. I have this feeling – if you go, it's going to change you. Change who you're supposed to be. And, while you're a pain in my ass now, I think there's probably some redeeming quality under the cocky bullshit. And it's my time. I can do what I want with it. And I'll do it, if my mom says I can."

Tristan stared at her, processing her explanation. "Your boyfriend is going to love this."

She shrugged her shoulders. Dean hadn't even crossed her mind. She pushed that issue aside for now. It wasn't a deal breaker for her. She crossed her arms across her chest and smiled at him. "Come on, Dugrey. Say yes. You're going to be my bitch for four months."

At that, he laughed and pushed off the locker. "Okay." He reached out and offered her his hand. They shook on it, grinning at each other. "Come on, Mary. Let's go make our deal with the devil."

"Satan. If you're the spawn of Satan, he's Satan."

Paris intercepted him to get dressed as Romeo before they reached his dad. "Go on," Rory told him. "I've got this."

He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Get ready to pucker up, Juliet." He was gone before she could roll her eyes.

She held up her finger to Mr. Dugrey, asking him to wait one minute, and trudged off down the hallway to where her mom and grandparents were waiting.

She pulled her mom away, after asking her grandparents to stay for a second. "So, Tristan – Bible Boy, Spawn of Satan, the guy I was just talking to?" Her mom nodded. "He got in trouble for some dumb prank, and his dad, the other guy down the hall," she said pointing to him, "is threatening to send him to military school. His dad says he can stay, if I help him study and, as he put it, babysit him so he doesn't get into more trouble." Rory looked at her mom. "We have the same classes, so it's just staying on him to do stuff, and I'd have to hang out with him some. Not that big of a deal. I want to do this. But I need you to be okay with it."

Lorelai was a little lost. Everything she'd heard about this kid had been negative. He drove Rory nuts. Didn't he? "I don't know, honey. I love that you want to help someone, but it sounds like a lot. You're going to be able to keep the Spawn of Satan out of trouble? What if you can't? What if you can't get your work done?"

"He's got to conform to my life, not the other way around. We'll be studying and doing what I do, so he'll have to deal with it. I think his dad wants my nerd-ways to rub off on him."

Lorelai still felt like she was missing something here. "Where do grandma and grandpa come in?"

"He stays home unless I'm with him. So, I'm guessing I'll be dragging him to Friday night dinners sometimes."

"Oh boy," Lorelai laughed. "Tell him about those; he might choose military school." Rory stared at her. "Okay, kiddo. You really want to do this?" Rory nodded emphatically. "Then we'll give it a whirl. If it doesn't work, you'll know you tried." Rory hugged her mom. She gave her grandparents a less detailed version of the story. They were happy to have Rory's friend come to dinner as often as he liked.

Rory brought her mom down to meet Tristan's dad. "Mr. Dugrey, this is my mom, Lorelai Gilmore." Ben knew of Lorelai, but he had never met her. He'd connected Rory to Richard and Emily, but not to Lorelai for some reason. He shook her hand. She was an older version of Rory – pretty, same eyes – younger than him, probably by five or six years doing the mental math of what he'd heard about her pregnancy and Rory's birth. And he could tell she was not thrilled with this situation.

Rory jumped in. "Tristan had to go get dressed for the play. But we agree. My mom has agreed, less willingly, and you two can talk about that if you want. My grandparents have agreed Tristan can come with us on Fridays. My mom and I have dinner with them most Friday nights, so I guess Tristan comes now too." Ben listened. "One thing. Tristan and I have a friend. Paris Gellar. She's super smart. I want to be able to punt to her, if I've got a conflict or need help."

"Sure. I've actually met Ms. Gellar. Maybe I should sub you out for her. That'd really punish Tristan." Rory snorted.

"Maybe I can fake an injury for a week and stick him with Paris." Ben smiled, liking Rory. "I've got to go finish getting ready for the play before Paris goes on the war path. Thank you for letting him stay, Mr. Dugrey."

Ben and Lorelai watched her walk away. Lorelai turned to him and dove in headfirst. "I don't understand this situation enough to fully comment, but I'm uncomfortable at the huge responsibility you – someone I just met – have dumped on Rory's head." She raised her hand when he opened his mouth to speak. "I know she agreed to it, and I saw her run over here, so I'm guessing she kind of asked for it. But she's seventeen, and on track for college and whatever else she wants. She's worked hard for it. I won't risk that. If I see this affecting her, I'm pulling the plug."

"Fair enough." He paused. "Look, your daughter seems responsible and smart and, like you said, on track. I'm no expert on teenagers, obviously, but it seems like a good thing for Tristan if he spends his free time with someone like her instead of his idiot friends. He can hang around someone who is a good influence on him, or he can stay home. That's all I'm looking for here." Lorelai nodded, somewhat mollified.

Hours later, Rory was in bed contemplating the strange turn of events that night. She now had a babysitting gig and a Range Rover. Tristan had texted on the way home from the play – his dad was having the SUV, just like the one Tristan drove, delivered to their house before school tomorrow morning. His dad didn't like that she'd be waiting for the bus at odd hours. She'd given him her mom's number so their parents could talk about it, assuming – correctly – that Lorelai wouldn't be happy with that. But they'd ironed it out, and Lorelai eventually caved, with Tristan's dad arguing that Rory could make up some of the time she'd be spending with Tristan on school work if she didn't have to wait on the bus. The car was hers to use for the next little while.

And the play! She smiled thinking about it. It was good Dean had decided to pass on the play because he would not have been happy. Tristan had played his role up, much to the delight of the audience, waving his arms about dramatically. Rory told him afterwards she thought he looked like he was having a seizure. But he'd leaned over her and from the side that showed to the audience, everything was perfectly proper. On the side to the back wall, where nobody could see, his hand roamed around until he found the spot on her side that was ticklish. It was all Rory could do to stay still and act dead. When he proclaimed "Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die," she used her hidden left hand to pinch him as soon as his mouth was over hers. He jolted and leaned onto her more, leaving his mouth on hers longer than necessary, but otherwise held it together enough for the scene to end. When he felt her shaking from laughter under him, he whispered, "You're an ass," and pushed off her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Sure enough, when she woke up in the morning, there was a white Range Rover in the driveway. She liked that hers was white and his was black. Like the forces of good and evil battling it out. Lorelai rolled her eyes when she saw it. Rory wanted to act nonchalant, but she loved it. She tossed her backpack and her change of clothes for Friday night dinner into the backseat and took off for Chilton.

She called him on the way to school, testing out the hands-free system in the car.

"Are you calling to say you changed your mind, Mary?"

"Nope. I'm about five minutes outside of Hartford. Am I supposed to be getting you, or are you allowed to drive to school?"

"My dad let me drive the two miles to school. I'm just glad he didn't decide I should walk."

She laughed. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen."

"No kidding."

"So, what's our plan? Do we have a plan? Do we need a plan?"

"You tell me."

Rory pulled into the parking lot and found a parking spot. "Well, I'm guessing we don't tell people at school about this – there's no need really. And we haven't been arguing as much lately, so it shouldn't be a big deal if we," she jumped at the knock on her passenger side window. She glared at Tristan for scaring her, still holding her phone to her ear.

"If we what, Mary? And aren't you going to unlock the door?" She did, and he slid in. He looked around, "This is nice, smells new." He turned back to her, "You were saying?"

"I was saying, before you scared the shit out of me, that we can probably just act normal and no one will think anything of it. No one needs to know you have a babysitter," she made a face at him. "We've been getting along okay, so we can hang out without drawing too much attention to ourselves."

He smirked at her. That smirk used to irritate the shit out of her, but it had grown on her lately. "Okay, yes, I know you're always the center of attention, drama queen, but us hanging out shouldn't draw too much attention. Right?"

He laughed, "We won't know until we try. Let's go." He ruffled her hair as they walked in the building; she elbowed him and told him to keep his hands to himself. Yeah, she thought, no one will think anything of this.

Their first day as a duo went fine. She followed Tristan home that afternoon after school and stared slack jawed at his house as they pulled up a long winding driveway. "Welcome to my prison," he told her as he led her around the back, through a gate, and into a pool house. "Some prison," she mused, as she took in the space that was easily bigger than her house in Stars Hollow. "I mostly hang out in here. We can go into the house, if you'd rather." She dumped her backpack on the floor by the couch. "This is good." She glanced at the treadmill and then over to him. "You run on that thing?" He told her he normally ran when he got home. She looked around at the set up. "Can you run and watch TV at the same time, if we move it this way a little?" He nodded and pushed the treadmill slightly to the left to face the TV. "I usually go to Luke's when I get home for a while before doing my homework. So," she kicked around a game plan for them, "maybe you run and we watch TV for a while, and then do homework. Does that work?"

"Sure. It's your show. I'm your bitch, remember?"

"Yeah," she gave him a big smile, "it's my favorite part of this."

They had time to kill today because they were going to her grandparents' house together and that wasn't until 7:00, so he showed her to the kitchen in the main house. He introduced her to Grace, the cook and main housekeeper and formerly his nanny, knowing Grace would be excited to meet her. Grace was his confidant at the house and knew about his thing for Mary. He made sure to introduce her as Mary and watched her face light up. Rory rolled her eyes and corrected him, which made Grace smile even more. He left them to get changed, and Rory stayed and talked to Grace for a few minutes. Grace made her a bowl of popcorn and coffee and showed her how to buzz her through the house system if she needed anything else.

Rory made her way back to the pool house and was sprawled on the couch flipping through the channels when Tristan came in a few minutes later in a t-shirt, shorts, and running shoes. She'd only seen him out of his school uniform a few times, and then in jeans. These running clothes, she guessed you'd call them, made him look, hmm, athletic, she mused. His arms and legs looked lean and strong, and his shirt was tighter than the dress shirt he wore every day to school, showing his chest. She cursed the butterflies tearing around her stomach and forced herself to look away.

After a couple minutes of debate and listing what all they'd each already seen, they agreed on Ozark – crime and drugs seemed like universal themes. He walked for a minute and then jogged on the treadmill and she ate popcorn and drank coffee while they watched the first episode. She laughed at how loud the TV had to be to hear it over the sound of his feet pounding on the treadmill, but it was fine. He ran the 50 minutes for the length of show. He slowed down when it ended, covered in sweat, hair in wet spikes, and shirt mostly drenched. She watched him down a bottle of water and cursed the damn butterflies again when he pulled his shirt off on the way out the door to get cleaned up. She bit her lip. If she thought he looked good getting ready to run, he looked fucking fantastic after he ran. Oh boy.

He was back fifteen minutes later, showered and in clean shorts and t-shirt to work on homework. "This is, what, your third outfit of the day? You're kind of high maintenance, Dugrey."

"It's work looking this good, Mary." He wasn't kidding, she thought. "And, unless you tell me I can go like this to your grandparents' house, I'll have to change again."

"Yeah. No. I have to wear a dress. Welcome to my world. Thrilling Friday night at the grandparents." He smiled at her. She bit her lip, "I know you agreed to come tonight, but, seriously, your dad did say you could come with me or stay at home."

"Trying to get rid of me already?"

"No! Trying to save you."

He smiled at her again. "You already saved me once. Besides, home is boring."

"Yeah," she said sarcastically, looking around. "It would be so hard to find something to do here." She reached for the backpacks to get started.

They had all but one of their classes together. He had P.E. and she had newspaper, and she had to assume he had P.E. covered. He sure looked like he should have P.E. covered. They went through each one, with her reviewing his status in each class.

He sat on the other end of the couch and watched her as she flipped through his stuff. Watching Rory had become one of his favorite things to do. She was so serious sometimes, and then she'd say or do something ridiculous. He'd fallen hard long ago. He initially tried to play it off as his desire to hook up with the new girl, the virgin, but that was nowhere near the truth. He wanted her, and he was pretty sure he wanted her permanently. To get the ball rolling, he'd cut back on the "jackass" act, she'd been right when she told his dad that. At least she'd noticed.

Watching her face scrunch up as she looked at one of his folders, he teased, "What do you think, Mary? Can you fix me?"

She glared at him, "You're lazy. Your test scores are all good. The only reason you don't have As is because you don't turn stuff in. Why don't you turn anything in?"

"Maybe if I had the right incentive, I'd do better. Like a kiss for each assignment I manage to turn in on time."

She smiled sweetly at him, and told him, "Sure, I might be able to get Paris on board with that."

Laughing, he leaned over and tugged on her hair. "You're no fun."

They pulled in to the Gilmores that night at the same time as Lorelai. Right at 6:59 p.m. No one wanted to be a minute early. They stood on the doorstep. Tristan watched in disbelief as they fought over who had to ring the doorbell. Finally, he reached around them and rang it. "You two are insane. Let's just do this."

Lorelai eyed him. "Kid, you have no idea what you're about to walk into. Next week, you won't ring it as fast. Wait and see."

Two hours later, they stood on the doorstep again. Lorelai looked at him again, this time in awe, "Wow, you're our buffer. I guess society frowns upon chastising your offspring in front of others. You're coming every week. Woo hoo!" He laughed, amused.

Rory drove him the few blocks home. Before he got out, he turned to her, "Thanks for doing this, Rory. I promise I'll do everything I can to make this as easy on you as possible."

She smiled at him. "It's not a big deal, Tristan."

"It is. If it weren't for you, I'd probably be getting yelled at by some drill sergeant right now."

"Oh, I have no doubt. I can yell at you at regular intervals, if it'll make you more comfortable."

"It might." They grinned at each other, blue on blue eyes sparkling. "So, what's going on tomorrow?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. Other than reading, we don't have homework."

"Do you want to come over tomorrow? We can watch more of the show."

She considered it. "Yeah, maybe. I'll text you when I get up." He nodded and hopped out.

Rory thought about the day as she drove back to Stars Hollow. He was fun when he wasn't purposely annoying her. She'd go back to Hartford tomorrow, but she'd eventually have to incorporate him into her Stars Hollow life, too. And she'd have to deal with Dean. She wasn't looking forward to that, because Tristan was right. Dean hated Tristan.

Lorelai was in the kitchen making coffee when Rory got home. She smiled when Rory flopped down at the table. "So, let's hear it. Tell me about today."

"Not much to tell. It went fine. We went to Tristan's house after school. We did our homework. We went through all his classes. He's not doing that bad. He'd do better if he tried."

"You two got along okay?"

"Yeah, sure. We stopped trying to kill each other months ago."

Lorelai sipped her coffee. She had only heard stories about Tristan. She hadn't met him or seen him and Rory interact. She'd watched them tonight and had formed some new opinions. They may have gotten off to a rocky start, but there was that saying about friendships forged in fire. Somewhere along the way, they'd forged theirs and it sizzled around them.

"So, have you told Dean about your new gig?"

Rory groaned. "No. I was thinking about that on the way back here. I guess I need to tell him. But, really, I'm not sure how much it'll affect him." She was working on her argument to minimize the whole set up. "I mean, really, I'm just changing the location of where I do my homework. I'd be doing it at home and he works most afternoons. Fridays will be the same. I guess Saturdays will be some different."

Lorelai didn't let her off the hook so easy. "Honey, you agreed to spend a lot of time with another guy. A guy who just might be one of the hottest teenagers I've ever seen. And you have a brand new Range Rover. He might notice that."

Rory groaned again, "And a guy who Dean hates."

"What? Oh! The dance. Yeah, this is going to be awesome. Can I watch you tell him? Please? Pretty please?"

She watched Lorelai clap her hands together like a four-year old. "I'll tell him tomorrow night. We're going to dinner."

Lorelai took another sip and smiled. "Well, eat fast. Dinner may be over before you know it once he hears about Pretty Boy."

"What happened to Spawn of Satan?"

"Sounds like he's going to be around for a while. We should be more cordial."

Rory smirked, "As long as he keeps Grandma and Grandpa off your back, right?"

"Duh."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

She texted him when she woke up.

"Rise and shine, Bitch."

He responded immediately. "Good morning, Sunshine. You coming over?"

She smiled. "Are you that bored? It's Day 2."

"Yep. Come. Bring your bathing suit."

"It's September."

"Pool is heated."

Mulling it over, she shot back, "I feel like Richard Pryor in The Toy. You're supposed to be my bitch, not the other way around."

"You can boss me around all day."

"Fine. Deal."

Rory and Lorelai went to Luke's for breakfast. They annoyed him for a solid hour before Lorelai had to go to work. Rory went home and packed a bag for Camp Dugrey, tossing in some extra clothes, a bathing suit, and a book.

They watched more Ozark in the pool house. They ventured into the main house for lunch and ate with Grace in the kitchen. They swam. They read for class. They fell asleep reading.

She woke up disoriented. They were tangled up in their towels on the couch and her head was on his chest. Shit. She tried to untangle herself without waking him and then saw the clock. Shit. She was going to be late to see Dean. Shit. She reached for her phone as Tristan started to wake. He had his hand on her hip – her bikini bottom clad hip – and squeezed lightly. "You okay? What time is it?" he asked.

"It's 5:30. Dean's supposed to be picking me up at 6:00. I'm telling him about you tonight. So this," she pointed her finger back and forth between them, "me being late because I fell asleep with you, is a really good start," her sarcasm rolled out. "Shit." She shot Dean a text saying she'd meet him at the restaurant at 6:30.

"I'm no relationship expert, but you might want to leave that part out. Or at least don't lead with it if you feel the need for full disclosure." He one-arm hugged her before finally untangling them and pulled her up. To help her out, Tristan took her up to his bedroom so she could shower and get ready. She tried to dry and fix her hair. She put the jeans she'd arrived in back on. It was the best she could do.

"Sorry you're solo tonight," she told him as she sat next to him on his bed to pull on her shoes.

"You've got a life. Go and have fun."

She smiled. "I had fun today. It was a good day."

"Yeah, Richard, it was." He nudged her shoulder with his.

"Stay out of trouble while I'm gone."

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mary. I'll stay away from all safes."

Finally, she stood. "I've got to go."

He stood up too. "Let me know how tonight goes."

She nodded, and they stared at each other awkwardly until Rory turned and walked away.

He flopped back on his bed after she left. Ugh. She was going out with Dean. Her boyfriend, he reminded himself. She'd gotten ready for a date in his bedroom. Weird.

She was right. Today had been a fun day. He liked laying around watching TV with her. He liked her chatter during the show. He liked stealing her snacks and getting her riled up. He liked swimming with her and teasing her about her bikini. He liked how she blushed when he told her she looked hot. He liked how he caught her staring at him while they were in the pool. He liked how she wrapped herself around him when he dunked her underwater, taking him under with her. He liked reading with her while they dried off, and he liked waking up with her on him when they fell asleep reading. He liked everything right up until she left to go out with her boyfriend.

Ben knocked on the door frame before walking in to Tristan's room. He'd worked all day, but Grace told him Rory was here. "Hey, Rory leave?"

Tristan looked up at his dad. "Yeah. She had a date."

"A date."

"With her boyfriend."

Ah, he thought, sensing this might be a sore subject. "I haven't eaten all day. I thought you might want to go out somewhere for dinner."

He stood there while Tristan stared at him and waited. He didn't blame him; he understood his hesitation. It would take longer than a few days to fix years of neglect. Finally, Tristan stood. "Let me throw some jeans on." Happy with his victory, Ben told him he'd meet him downstairs.

Rory chewed on the Dean issue some more as she drove to dinner. Dean had been her boyfriend for about six months – her first boyfriend. She'd met him right before transferring to Chilton in January of her junior year, and he'd finally gotten the nerve up to ask her out in the spring. In all that time, they hadn't gotten much closer. They didn't have the time - he worked almost every day, and she spent hours traveling to and from Chilton and doing homework almost every day. Mostly, they texted some, and saw each other on Saturday nights. She used to look forward to their Saturday nights, but her interest had faded some over the summer and even more when school started back up again. She felt like his had too, but neither addressed it head on. She really wasn't looking forward to tonight. Her mom was right; dinner with him had the potential to be a disaster. She bit her lip as she saw him standing in front of the Mexican restaurant as she pulled in. Resigned, she figured all she could do was lay it out there and see what happened.

He didn't realize it was her that pulled in, not recognizing her new car. He looked confused when he saw her get out. "Hey Dean." Although Louise and Madeline, who'd met him at the spring dance, proclaimed him hot, Rory had always thought he was more cute, in a floppy-haired kind of way. He looked nice in jeans and a polo shirt, and she smiled at him.

"You get a new car?"

She hadn't considered she'd just have to jump into it. "It's a loaner for a few months. I'm going to be helping Tristan with some school stuff after school so his dad thought it would save me some time if I didn't have to wait for the bus all the time."

"Tristan? The accountant?" she nodded. "That guy is an asshole."

"Yeah, he has been sometimes. But he's not so much anymore. We're friends."

Dean looked over at the SUV. "How much help does he need? A Range Rover's worth?"

She grabbed his arm. "Come on. Forget about Tristan. Let's go eat."

They got a table and sat. "Okay, so back to Tristan. You're helping him study?"

She groaned internally. Lay it out, she reminded herself. "Yes. Every day after school. And he's going to be hanging around some. I told his dad I'd hang out with him on weekends because his regular friends aren't great influences and tend to get in trouble."

He just stared at her. "I'm not hanging around him," he finally told her. Her mom was right. This wasn't going well. And it didn't sound great coming out of her mouth, either. He wasn't happy the rest of dinner, and she didn't really blame him. It was an uncomfortable night, and she was glad when it was over.

She and Tristan were back at his house Monday afternoon. They dropped their backpacks in the pool house, headed to Tristan's room to get changed, Tristan into running clothes and Rory into yoga pants and a t-shirt, and passed through the kitchen to get Rory popcorn and coffee on the way back to the pool house.

He ran and she sat on the couch chomping on popcorn. They were halfway through the first season of Ozark, and they were both really into it. "We should take a road trip to the Ozarks," he suggested watching a strip club scene. Finding him ridiculous, she asked "Ever been to a strip club?"

"Nope." He pulled his shirt up to wipe his face as he ran.

"I'm betting we can find one closer to Hartford. We probably don't need to go all the way to Missouri."

"Or, Mary, we can just stay in the pool house and you can strip here," he smirked.

She couldn't resist. It was too easy. She set her popcorn aside and stood up, making sure she had his attention before she reached down and grasped the hem of her t-shirt. She slowly started lifting it until it crossed the top of her pants. She kept her eyes on him and grinned when his stride faltered. She lifted it further and crossed her arms as though she was about to lift it over her chest and off. "Rory," he hit the stop button and hopped off the treadmill, "what are you doing?" She let her shirt drop. "You're such a sucker, Tristan."

He shook his head and laughed. "I'm a sucker for you." He pulled his shirt off and rubbed it over his face and hair to wipe off the sweat. "This was fun." He saw her staring at him. "Did you want me to finish?" He put his hands on the top of his shorts and made to push them down. Her eyes followed his hands. It took all she could do not to lick her lips. "Because I think you've got a little bit of drool," he reached toward her face, "right here."

Amused that he'd managed to turn this around on her, she stuck her tongue out at him. "I'm not blind." She sat back down and grabbed her popcorn again. "So I told Dean about this. It didn't go well." He flopped down on a nearby chair.

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I knew he wouldn't be happy about it. I mean, you did purposely piss him off at the dance."

"Yeah. I did."

"And I basically told him I was going to be spending a bunch of time with a guy he hates. So I can't really blame him for his reaction."

"Nope."

"You're awfully agreeable."

"I'm trying to not make your life harder."

Try putting on some clothes then, she thought. "Where was this Tristan for the last nine months?"

"Acting like a jerk."

"Yeah. But both old and new Tristan grow on you. Like mold." They smiled at each other. "So how's it going with your dad?"

"We went out to dinner Saturday night, just me and him. It was okay." He shrugged.

"Really? That's good, right?"

"I guess. He's going to be gone later this week and weekend. Trying to finish something up," he said. "Supposedly, after that, he'll be home more on a regular basis."

"Well, one of the things I was going to talk to you about was this weekend."

"Been thinking of ways to boss me around? Going to make me clean toilets or something?"

"Haha. Mom would love that actually. We suck at cleaning. So, my mom, grandparents, and I did the official Yale tour a few weeks ago. But I thought I'd go hang out there on Saturday, to get a better feel for it. Do you want to come?"

"Sure." He smirked. "I like hot co-eds."

"Yes, Tristan, because that's the main draw of college." She threw a piece of popcorn at him. He caught it and ate it. "And, maybe, since your dad is going to be gone, you can come home with us Friday for movie night and stay and we can just go to Yale in the morning from my house."

He looked skeptical. "You want me to sleep over?"

"Is that weird? You'd be on the couch."

"Your mom is okay with this? Dean isn't going to be okay with this, I can tell you that."

She winced. Dean. "No, I guess not."

"You could sleep here," he offered.

She shook her head. "No. That's not going to work, either." She thought for a second and sighed, "Okay, well, I guess I'll just get you Saturday morning." It sucked when rational thought killed a good plan, she thought. And who knew Tristan would have the rational thought, she mused.


	4. Chapter 4

Tristan and Rory continued their routine the rest of the week. By Friday, they were down to two episodes of Ozark and sped through homework so they could finish the season. They watched, sprawled out on either end of the couch, and chattered at the TV every time a new twist hit. When it was over, they both stared at the TV and then looked at each other. "What the hell," Tristan complained. She laughed at his irritation, telling him there'd be another season based on that ending. They debated what they'd watch next until Tristan got a text from Bowman about a party that night. "Bowman." Rory leaned over to read it. "So Bowman's parents apparently aren't very concerned about your venture into grand theft?" Amused, he shook his head. "Do you miss it?" she asked. "Your life before all this?"

"BR? Before Rory?" he asked. "Are you kidding? Bowman talking about his latest jerk-off fantasy or you on a couch in my pool house. Tough call," he joked.

Rory grimaced. "Eww. He's gross." She wasn't a big fan of Bowman. He was, as she told Tristan's dad the week before, bored, lazy, and stupid. And he lacked Tristan's charm.

He couldn't resist pushing it further. "You've starred in some of them."

"In some of what?"

"Bowman's fantasies." He watched for the reaction he knew was coming.

She scrunched up her face. "Eww, eww, eww. Why? You know what, I don't even want to know." Then, "So what are you going to tell him?" Tristan shrugged. He didn't really care. He fired off a text saying he'd catch up with them another time.

They went to dinner at the Gilmores again that night. Lorelai was less happy with Tristan's presence this time because Emily was semi back to herself. "Well, it took two weeks, Pretty Boy. Emily must like you because she's comfortable enough to insult me again."

He enjoyed Lorelai, "On the up side, you two got to eat your weight in pot roast."

Lorelai went to smack him, but he was quicker and jumped out of the way. "Mean. We're growing women."

That night, as Rory drove him home, they were both wishing he was going to Stars Hollow for the night. "Okay, so 10:00 tomorrow. Be ready."

"Yes, Mary." He got out, but turned back, "And remember, you agreed we can see more than just libraries. We're going to see the fun part of it, too."

"Yeah, yeah. We've got all day, we can see it all."

She was in bed when she got a text from him with the trailer to Sneaky Pete.

"Ooh. That looks good. Start Monday?"

"Yeah."

She sent him the link for Rich Man's Shoe.

"Lunch tomorrow?"

"Sure. I'll bring my fake ID."

"Liking the sound of military school now?"

"Kidding, Mary. Chill."

"I'll chill in January."

"Best babysitter I've ever had."

"Jackass."

"That was the best speech."

"Don't knock it. It saved your ass."

"Yep."

"Bedtime. See you in a few hours."

"Night, Mary."

Rory was practically bouncing by the time she got to Tristan's house. She'd gotten up earlier than necessary and dressed carefully, wanting to blend in with the college kids. Her outfit was Lorelai-approved. Actually, it was Lorelai's outfit. Tight jeans, short shirt that barely hit the top of her jeans, and short and tight jacket. And low-heeled boots because they'd be walking all day. Tristan probably spent a minute and a half getting ready and looked good in jeans and a t-shirt layered over a long sleeve t-shirt. He climbed in and tossed a sweatshirt in the backseat. "We're going to college today!"

"You're awfully excited, Mary. Did you change your mind about using the fake ID?" She rolled her eyes at him.

"You need alcohol to have fun, Dugrey?"

"Nope."

"But really, we could go to Yale. This could be us soon. It is exciting!"

"Dugreys go to Yale. I'd always planned to rebel and go somewhere else."

"Well, if you like it, you go for you. Not them."

And for you, he thought.

They parked and began to roam. He bought her a coffee from the first stand they saw, and they walked around the dorm areas first. They peeked into a couple of open dorm rooms, and Rory liked what she saw. She grabbed his arm, "Look – a fireplace! In a dorm room!" He looked at her, "Well, it's Connecticut. And it gets pretty fucking cold." She smacked him and called him a smartass. She was thrilled when they were snooping around one dorm building and met two female students who, mesmerized by Tristan, offered to show them their rooms. Tristan kept up the conversation while Rory looked around, knowing this was her deal. After a few minutes, they thanked them and made their escape, but not before one of the girls insisted on giving Tristan her number. Rory messed with him as they walked across campus, "Mandy was a fan. I think she's probably googling you right now. Wait, did you give your last name?" He shook his head and smirked. "Okay, then she's googling hot Connecticut guy named Tristan."

"As long as you think I'm hot, it's all good."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Tristan, every female alive thinks you're hot. Ooh, another coffee stand." She dragged him across the courtyard, and he bought her another one, which she drank as they looked around a few buildings with classrooms and a library. He waited patiently while she ran her hands over the books, half expecting her to pick them up and run out of the building. "I love the way it smells in here."

"Old and musty?"

"Historic and smart."

"You're very odd."

"Yep."

They walked back outside. "Where to next?" he asked.

"Lunch?" Ten minutes later, they'd found the Rich Man's Shoe. It was crowded, full of college students, and they were lucky to get a table. Tristan took off for the bathroom, leaving Rory to look around. It was exactly what she pictured a college pub would look like. Worn wood, loud music, big groups of friends drinking and yelling at each other over the music. She was surprised when a guy approached her. He introduced himself and offered to get her a drink. She smiled at him and declined. She was a little uncomfortable. She'd had a boyfriend for a while and was used to Tristan's constant flirting, but she didn't know what to say to this guy. She was relieved when she saw Tristan coming back towards her and smiled when he slid into the chair across from her. The guy got the picture and left. "Making friends?"

"Hardly. He wanted to buy me a drink. It was weird."

He smiled at her. "You usually play your looks down, but you've played them up today. Guys are going to hit on you, given the chance."

"They won't with you here."

"Nope. Want me to move?"

She laughed. "No! I'm out of my league."

Using her word, he told her, "Hardly."

They plowed through giant burgers and fries. She leaned forward and told him she was a little worried the button on her jeans was going to pop off. "I'm not sure I had enough room in these pants for all that food."

"I'm never sure you have enough room in that body for all the food you eat, but it always seems to work."

They walked some more. She got another coffee and they sat on a bench in a busy courtyard and people watched. They made up stories about the people they saw, a game she and her mom played a lot. Tristan was really good at it, too. In fact, she thought he was probably pretty accurate. They were just leaving the campus bookstore when Lorelai called later that afternoon. She was tired of waiting and wanted to know how it went. They agreed to meet her at Luke's in an hour.

She parked in front of Luke's and was immediately uncomfortable when she saw Dean staring at them from the front of Dosey's. "I feel like we're about to walk into an old west showdown." He reached over to squeeze her hand, knowing Dean couldn't see into the car, and reminded her, "I'll stay quiet and stay out of it." Won't matter, Rory thought, but she flipped her hand over and held his for a second before she opened her door. Tristan put his hands in his pockets as he followed her across the street.

After a minute of awkward looks and conversation, Dean asked, "You're still coming to the party with me tonight, right?"

"What time? We're meeting my mom, and then I have to drive Tristan home."

"I work until 8, so pick you up at 9?" She nodded. Dean leaned over to kiss her. It was quick and perfunctory, much to Rory's relief. And to Tristan's.

Lorelai was waiting for them. "Bet that was a pleasant meeting, huh?"

"Mom. MYOB."

"You, my kiddo, are my business." They gave Luke their orders. "Okay, so tell me everything." Rory and Tristan told her about the trip. She liked that they both got hit on. "I know the pretty people!"

After their second burger of the day, Rory and Tristan went back to her house for a while. She didn't have to take him back for a while. He laid on her bed and watched her hang up her new Yale pennant, right above her Harvard one. "We going to check out Harvard next, Mary? Harvard could be my rebellion."

"It could. I have an official tour with my mom in December. But we could go before that to look around, if you want." She dug around the bag for the other stuff he'd bought her. She pulled out the t-shirt that was way too big for her.

"That shirt is twice the size of the one you're wearing."

"Duh. I'm going to sleep in it. Loose and comfy." His mind drifted to her standing in front of him in that shirt and nothing else, and him putting his hands on her legs and pushing it up. She tossed it at him and jarred him out of his daydream.

"Or you could have it."

"It's soft. You should keep it."

"I will, until it ends up at your house with the other half of my clothes." He smiled at her. His closet was full of her stuff.

A little while later, she dragged him to the little dock on the little lake. "This is where I come to avoid people," she told him.

"Is that a hint? Because you control when you take me home."

"No! I'll give you the tour at some point, but this is my favorite spot in Stars Hollow."

"I thought that'd be Luke's."

She laughed. "You're right. It's probably a tie."

They sat on the edge of the dock, their legs hanging over, talking until the sun was gone. They scooted closer as it got darker and chillier, stopping only when their sides were aligned. When she shivered, he pulled his sweatshirt off and tugged it over her head. She tried not to focus on how it smelled like him, but it did and she loved it. Finally, Rory pulled her phone out and peeked at the time. "I probably need to get you home," she told him, but didn't move. He smiled at her, hopped up and grabbed her hands to pull her up. "Come on, Mary. Let's rock."

He controlled the radio on the drive to Hartford, and she mocked his choices mercilessly to lighten the mood. Really though, she couldn't wait to get him and Lane together. Lane would be amazed at his terrible taste in music. But he could keep up with Eminem, which was impressive, even though she mocked that, too.

When she pulled up his driveway, he turned towards her. "Sorry about this. I know it's a pain. Having to cart me around."

"It's not at all. I had fun today."

"Me too."

"And you got a phone number."

He took his phone out of his pocket and flipped it to her. She stared at it. "What?"

"Mandy."

She scrolled through the contacts. It was gone already. "You already deleted it? Your shot at a hot co-ed?"

"I took that one for the team so you could see a dorm room. You're welcome." He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "See you Monday, Mary."

"It's a good team, Dugrey." She smiled at him. "See you Monday."

She didn't want to go to a party. She hadn't hung around Stars Hollow kids much in the last year and didn't know them well anymore, but Dean did. She got home with ten minutes to spare, ran into her room, tossed Tristan's sweatshirt on her bed, and brushed her hair. She finished just as she heard him knocking.

"Hi."

"Hey, you ready?"

They walked to the party, which was just past the high school. She followed Dean around for a few hours, smiled at people, and listened to them talk. She caught herself yawning and was glad Dean's back was to her so he didn't see. Finally, she whispered to him she was going to head home, but that he should stay. He looked at her and nodded.

Ben was home when Tristan walked in Saturday night. "How was Yale?"

"Good. We covered a lot of ground. Dorms, classrooms, libraries, courtyards, pub, bookstore. I'm just glad we didn't see any classes in session, or Rory would have made us sit in one of those auditoriums and listen."

Ben smiled. "God forbid you go to an extra class. You eat?" They were walking back to the kitchen.

"Yeah, we ate there at a place called Rich Man's Shoe and then again in Stars Hollow with Lorelai."

"I spent many a night at Rich Man's Shoe. It's a Yale staple." He pulled out stuff to make a sandwich.

"Yeah, Rory figured that out so we went."

"Emily Gilmore invited me for dinner this Friday."

"Oh yeah?"

"That okay?"

"Sure. It's not bad. Lorelai thinks it's the seventh circle of hell."

Ben snorted. He finished making his sandwich, put the stuff away, grabbed a beer, and paused, considering - what the hell, he thought. He grabbed another one, before sitting down at the island to eat, and handed it to Tristan. "You went to college today."

Tristan's smile was fast, "That's what Rory said today, too. She nixed using the fake ID."

Ben tossed him a look. "Kidding! Well, not kidding that I have one. Kidding that I was going to use it. I just wanted to get her riled up." Tristan sat on the counter.

"Tell me what's up between you two."

"We're friends, I guess."

"Because she's got a boyfriend."

"Yeah."

"And if she didn't have a boyfriend?"

"I'd make a move." He took a drink and looked down at the bottle. "I love her."

Ben considered him. "Love her how?"

Tristan was quiet for a minute. "Like 'welcome to the family' love her."

"You're young. But I'm glad your mother and I didn't ruin that for you."

"Oh, you did for a while. Ask the girls around Chilton."

"I'm sorry."

Tristan shrugged. "You and mom didn't fit. You shouldn't be together if you don't fit."

"You're right. We got married young. We didn't know each other well enough, but our families pushed it. It's how things went then. And it seemed easier to go with it at the time. It was a big event."

"Yeah, like a power merger." Both families were Hartford power families.

Ben smiled at him. "Lucky for you, we're full up on power now. You can marry for love. Later, much later."


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

She stood in his closet on Monday afternoon, feeling antsy. She wasn't in the mood to watch TV. She wasn't in the mood to do homework. She knew what was bothering her, what had bothered her all day, and worked to push it out of her mind. "Let's swim," she told him. "Or I can swim while you run," she offered.

He could tell she was off today. She'd been off all day. Quiet. Stewing, almost. "We can swim." He was leaning against the doorframe watching her dig around the shelves. Grace had given her a section of the closet. She had some uniforms and some Friday night dinner dresses hanging up, and some regular clothes folded on the shelves. She found her bathing suit. "I'm changing in here. Give me a minute." She looked over at him when he didn't move. "You mind?" He smiled and reached across her to grab his bathing suit. "I don't mind, Mary," he told her before heading to the bathroom to change.

She shook her head and went over the day as she stripped down. It had gone downhill in first period. When she got Paris as her partner for the next project and Tristan got Summer. Gellar and Gilmore always got paired up, and so did Dugrey and Duncan. Tristan and Summer. Did that mean Summer would be over here this week? Why did she care? She shouldn't care. The Tristan and Summer saga was no secret, that's for sure. She tossed her uniform in the hamper and put her suit on before grabbing one of his t-shirts to cover up.

They stared at each other when they met up in his room. "Ready?" She nodded. "Food after pool?" She nodded again. He buzzed down and told Grace they'd be in later. Giving her another look, he threw his arm around her shoulders and pulled her out the door, "Come on, Grumpy." She stuck her tongue out at him and eventually smiled.

They swam laps, even though Rory considered it exercise. Her mind shut down as she went, and she felt looser with every lap. Finally, she crapped out and floated on her back.

When he finally had enough, too, he floated next to her. "Swimming laps give you those arms?" she asked him, pointing to his arm where the muscles ripped and divided. "You worried you're going to get too strong?" he teased her.

"Please. I thought I was going to die ten laps in."

"You have to work up to it. Ten today, eleven tomorrow, twelve the next day."

"I'm not sure when I'm going to fit swimming in every day. If we keep adding stuff, I'll be getting home at midnight."

"Well, I could get in some more trouble so my dad decides I need a full-time babysitter and you could just move in." He liked that idea.

She did not. "Bite your tongue, Tristan. You're still not out of the woods on military school." She didn't like the idea of him being sent away, but knew he was kidding and shook that off, too. They floated in comfortable silence until they saw Grace carrying a tray towards the pool house. They thanked her and swam for a few more minutes before climbing out, grabbing towels, and heading in to eat.

They sat on the couch wrapped up in towels and ate macaroni and cheese and got started on Sneaky Pete. Two hours later, they were just wrapping up homework when Lorelai called. She was in Hartford and in the mood to shop. Rory considered for a minute and decided shopping might do her good. Tugging on the jeans she'd carted down earlier in case she got cold and his t-shirt she'd stolen from his closet, and sliding her feet into flip flops, she stood to leave. "See you in the morning, Dugrey," she told him before leaning down and kissing his cheek.

He started to stop her but changed his mind. That outfit was for sure going to draw some comment from Lorelai. He'd have laughed if he saw her pull on his sweatshirt, which she'd thrown into her car that morning, to complete the odd-looking ensemble.

"What happened to you?" Lorelai stared at her hard.

Rory looked down at herself. "What do you mean?"

"You look," she dug around her mind for the right word, "disheveled. What happened to your hair? And is that Tristan's sweatshirt?"

"I was swimming laps. My suit is on under here. I didn't want to run all the way back to the main house to change so I put on what was in the pool house, and here I am."

Lorelai stared at her. "Okay, there's a whole lot of info in that statement. First, you were swimming laps? Like exercising? Why? And second, how far away could the pool house possibly be from the main house? And third, we're in Hartford and you look like you just rolled out of your boyfriend's bed."

"Mom!"

"Well, you do. Here," she went to work on her hair, trying to make it less unruly. "Okay," she lifted the sweatshirt to see what was hanging out from under it. "His shirt, too? Rory." She rolled her eyes. "Tuck that in. Okay, that's the best we can do."

"What are we shopping for? I could use a few bathing suits if I'm going to be swimming laps more. I'm going to get arm muscles." Lorelai looked at her like she was insane.

"Sure, I'm sure they're all on the sale seeing as how it's September and sane people aren't swimming."

Rory smiled at her, "Heated pool."

They split up in one of their favorite stores. Lorelai was looking for shoes and Rory went in search of bathing suits. Given the season, the selection was small. It had just been this summer that Rory got her first bikini, and it was modest by anyone's standards. But she thought she might be ready to venture out of her comfort zone a little bit more. She didn't stop and think why that was. She picked a blue one and a black one, and yelled to her mom she'd be in the dressing room.

Shucking her much-mocked outfit, she pulled on the blue suit. She studied herself in the mirror. It sure covered less skin than her other one. But it fit tight and didn't feel like it'd shift in the water. "Mom?"

Lorelai poked her head in. "Woah."

"What do you think?"

"I think woah. You look great, Rory. It's pretty different from your other one and really different from all your other ones." Lorelai bit her lip. Did she know she was doing this for Tristan? Or was she that oblivious? What about Dean?

"It feels good. Tight."

"Okay, you going to try that one?" she pointed to the black one.

Rory nodded. She switched them out and laughed at herself. No way. This one was teeny tiny.

"Done?" Lorelia asked. She opened the door. "No."

"I know. It's a no."

"But wow. It looks amazing. It's too much, though."

"Yep."

"Okay, blue one it is. And it's 75% percent off, so in our price range." Rory gave her a thumbs up.

Shopping, and a platter of tacos at Hector's, lifted her spirits. She was feeling better, even after talking to Paris on the phone the entire drive back to Stars Hollow. They debated the game plan for their project and agreed to meet after school Friday. She needed to bug Tristan about getting his project planned, too, even if that meant he had to get together with Summer.

She wasn't going to acknowledge her jealousy, she just wasn't. First, she had a boyfriend, even if that relationship had disintegrated down to a technicality. A technicality she'd intended to discuss with Dean the day before, but was unable to because he and his family were called out of town unexpectedly to visit his grandma in the hospital and wouldn't be back for days. Either way, she had a boyfriend. Second, Tristan's love life wasn't any of her business. That's what she told herself.

That's what she told herself as she got ready for bed. And that's what she told herself when she got in bed and texted him.

"You awake?"

"Yep. What's up?"

"What are you doing?"

"Just finished running."

She closed her eyes, picturing him after his run. Mmmm.

"Show off."

"How was shopping?"

"Good. Got a new bathing suit."

"Please tell me it's a bikini."

She smiled, "Hmmmm."

"Tease." Then, "You sound better now. Shopping cheered you up."

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"Gonna take a quick shower. Call you in 10 minutes."

She bit her lip.

She rolled her eyes when the FaceTime call came through. He was checking up on her – now he'd be able to hear her voice and see her face. She answered, seeing him sitting up against his headboard. Hair wet from his shower, no shirt. "Forget your clothes, Dugrey?"

He laughed, "Boxers. Want to see?"

Yes. She really did. "I'll take your word for it."

He studied her, liking that she was sleeping in his t-shirt.

After a few minutes of their usual banter, she told him about her plan to meet with Paris on Friday, which worked out because Paris lived a few blocks from Tristan and she could head over there before Friday night dinner. He said he'd track Summer down tomorrow to figure their project out. She smiled in relief when he told her he hoped Friday would work for them too, because then he'd have an excuse to get rid of Summer before dinner.

"So, you're okay, Mary?" He watched her.

"Yeah. I was in a funk. I'm good now."

She told him about Stars Hollow's movie in the town square night this weekend, and how Lorelai was stressing about the movie selection. Rory winced, thinking what an awkward night that'd be, since, unless she heard from Dean before then, both he and Tristan would be there. Perfect, she thought. Not.

She yawned a little while later. He looked at the clock and realized they'd been on the phone for almost an hour. "You should go to sleep, Ror." She smiled at him, sleepily. "See you in the morning. Night, Tristan.'

Rory found herself in Tristan's closet again the next day, in a happier mood this time. When Tristan asked if he was running or swimming that day, she told him, "I'm swimming. You can do either."

That meant he was swimming. He'd run later that night, like he did after she left yesterday.

He did a double take when she pulled off her (his) t-shirt by the pool. "Holy shit, Mary."

"You should see the other one I tried on. It was half the size of this one. Mom said no as soon as she walked into the dressing room."

"I think I'd pass out if I saw the other one, because my head is spinning with this one."

She grinned at him. "Think I should show it to Bowman?"

"I can assure you if I sent him a picture of you in that right now he'd have his dick in his hand in seconds."

"Oh god," she choked, laughing.

She swam until her arms burned, which admittedly wasn't long. She sat on the swim out and looked at her arms. "Nope, still no muscle."

"It takes time. More time than two days."

By day four, she could swim longer but still didn't have any muscle. She complained to Tristan. "Just swim because you like it. In a month or two, one day you'll look down, and you'll see some muscle."

"In a month or two, we won't be able to be out here, even to hop in and out."

He pulled her out to float next to him. "Then we'll do something else."

She let herself relax next to him. "Fine."

Rory went home with Paris on Friday. By five, they were done with their project and Rory was on her way to Tristan's house to change. Ben and Tristan were coming to Friday night dinner at the Gilmore's. Lorelai had called it the rehearsal dinner all week - his and her families. She'd told her mom to cut if out, repeatedly, but didn't hold out much hope they'd make it through dinner without some embarrassing comment.

Rory looked on with interest when she walked through the back door into the kitchen to see Grace with her ear against the door to the dining room. She looked back at Rory, put her finger to her lips telling her to be quiet, and waved her over. Rory leaned in and listened, too. Grace was laughing silently, shoulders shaking, as they heard Summer flirting with Tristan and Tristan trying to evade and draw her back to the project. He was agile, she'd give him that, Rory thought. And Summer was persistent.

They looked back sheepishly when they heard the back door open again. Seeing Ben, they waved him over, too. All three of them listened to Summer proposition Tristan, trying to get him to go out with her that night and describing in a great detail what she'd do for him if he agreed. Grace finally lost control, snorting, and even though she tried to cover it up, they all backed away quickly into the kitchen. They heard movement, and Tristan opened the door a few seconds later. He stared at them, Rory embarrassed at being caught, his dad with an eyebrow raised at him, and Grace bright red from trying to hold her laughter in. He let the door shut behind him and leaned back against it, his head hitting the door. "Kill me now," he said. Ben, unable to resist, asked, "Are you sure? Because it sounds like you could have a very eventful night ahead of you." Rory finally lost it too, laughing. "How's the project coming, Romeo?" she asked him. He smirked at her, "I should get hazard pay for this. She could teach a class on sexual harassment." Grace walked over, and pushed him back out the door, "Go get her, Tiger. Finish it up." He hung his head and walked out, ignoring the laughter he heard behind him.

Thirty minutes later, Rory was all changed and reading on the couch in his room when he came up. He sat down on the couch next to her. "It's done, but you might want to look it over this weekend because half the time my focus was on avoiding her wandering hands. That was brutal." She ruffled his hair and reminded him Summer was his girlfriend at one point. "I was an idiot," he told her.

Ben and Tristan pulled up to the Gilmores' house and saw Lorelai and Rory standing by the front door. Tristan waved his dad out, and told him, "Watch this. Don't say anything."

"Hi guys," Tristan told them as they walked up to the door, too.

Lorelai looked over at Ben and Tristan. "Pretty Boy. Ben. Nice of you to join us."

Ben nodded to them. They all just stood there. Lorelai and Rory looked at each other and then back at the door. Finally, Ben said, "Okay, I give. What are we doing here?"

"We're going in there. But not until it's time." Lorelai looked at her watch. "Ugh. It's time. You do it," she told Rory.

Rory stared at her and shook her head. "I did it last time."

"No. Tristan did it the last two times."

"I did it the time before that. You haven't done it in a month."

Tristan put his hands in his pockets and waited it out. Everyone turned to Ben. "What?"

"You should ring the door bell," Rory told him. He looked at her like she was crazy.

"That's what we're waiting on?"

They all nodded. He leaned through the gap between Lorelai and Rory and hit the bell.

"Now, everything bad that happens in there, it's your fault," Lorelai told him.

Amused, he asked, "Does a lot of bad stuff happen in there?"

Lorelai laughed, "You have no idea. Tristan has been our buffer lately, but Emily is getting used to him, so I expect the jabs to start flowing again. Maybe you'll be the buffer tonight," she said as a maid opened the door.

Emily met them in the foyer. She greeted the Dugreys. When the maid took Lorelai's coat, Emily saw Lorelai's dress. "Really, Lorelai, you couldn't find a dress appropriate for dinner?" Lorelai smiled at Ben as Emily walked away. "Nope. You're not a buffer."

"What's wrong with your dress," he asked.

"It has too much white in it; we're past Labor Day." Ben looked amused. "I'm surprised she led with the dress insult. She's backed off the clothes comments ever since I sprung the sequined penis t-shirt on them over the summer. She lives in fear I'll wear it when they have company."

He laughed and followed her into the living room. He accepted his whiskey and listened to Lorelai argue with her mom over an olive in her martini. Rory and Tristan were telling Richard about their visit to Yale. Richard was thrilled Rory liked it so much. He told Ben that Rory had been dead set on Harvard ever since she was a little girl, but she'd given in and toured Yale with them last month. Lorelai piped in that she and Rory had a tour lined up at Harvard in December. Rory added that she and Tristan might go to Harvard for a day next month just to look around, like they did at Yale.

Ben was glad Tristan was willing to look at colleges. He knew he had Rory to thank for that. He'd be ecstatic if Tristan went to Yale or Harvard. He didn't tell Tristan, although he figured he knew, but the Dugrey name would get him into either school even if he didn't improve his grades. He'd have his choice. As would Rory, because if something happened and she didn't get in on her own merit, which was unlikely, he'd push the Dugrey name behind the Gilmore name there, too. They'd go where they wanted.

Tuning back in, he listened to the chatter. Emily asked about his parents. Ben was no dummy. He knew he'd have to tell his parents he and Tristan had been here, and there'd be a reciprocal dinner at their house soon. He wasn't one to be pushed over, but he didn't care in this instance. It gave him more time with Tristan. Lorelai leaned over towards him and whispered, "Shit, that just got us another dinner, didn't it?"

"Yep."

"The rules of polite society are ridiculous. These dinners, the DAR dinners, the debutante ball Rory got roped into. I'm waiting for someone to try to auction her off at one of these things. To the highest bidder and most eligible bachelor."

He looked over at Tristan and Rory. "Well, if that happens, I have a feeling my family will be right there in the bidding. Keep us posted." Lorelai choked, snorted, and groaned at the same time.

The next night was movie night in the town square, and Lorelai had picked the movie. Of course, she picked something semi-inappropriate – Major League.

She, Rory, Tristan, and Dean, having just gotten back into town that afternoon, got take out from Luke's and got their seats. Their little group was an odd cast of characters, for sure, but that was her daughter's life these days. She'd tried to get Luke to come. Best he would commit to was popping in to see the end, which was his favorite part. Rory sat uncomfortably in between Dean and Tristan. Dean hadn't wanted to come but had changed his mind once he'd heard Tristan would be there. Lorelai sat next to Tristan.

Lorelai plowed through her burger and fries before the movie even started and then looked at Tristan's takeout box. "What?" he asked her. "You're not getting my food."

"I'm still hungry." Tristan sighed and dug in his pocket. He handed her a bag of red vines.

"Oh my god. I love you."

Rory looked over at them. "Hey."

Kirk interrupted them to announce the main feature would be starting in a few minutes, but they'd be previewing his latest home movie first. Lorelai and Rory were bouncing in their seats in excitement. This is what they'd been waiting for all week since they'd heard about it. Kirk asked for quiet and started his movie.

Kirk's movie was about him and his two cats stuck in the Twickham house for a day and had a lot of close ups and action shots. Rory laughed so hard her sides hurt, especially when she saw Tristan turning his head like he was trying to figure out what was going on. Finally, he leaned down towards her, "What the hell is this?"

"Perfection. It's perfection."

Lorelai joined. "Indeed."

Dean was bored ten minutes into Major League. He didn't want to sit in the town square watching a twenty-year old movie on a Saturday night. His phone started buzzing with texts. He leaned over to whisper to Rory. "Hey, want to get out of here? There's a party in Woodfield," he told her, referring to the next town over.

Confused, she asked, "What?"

"Come on, Rory. This is dumb."

"No. You should go, Dean. Go, have fun."

He glared at her. "You're going to stay here with him."

"Yeah. We made plans to do this. You, me, my mom, and him."

"I'll stay," he sighed and stared at the screen. Tristan looked over but tried to not to make it obvious. Keeping Rory's life simple, he reminded himself.

Dean's phone was still buzzing ten minutes later. She looked at him. "Okay, I'm going to go." She nodded, and he left.

Rory relaxed. She was happy chattering with Tristan and her mom about the movie. And with Luke when he slid in towards the end.

Lorelai decided to hang out with Luke at the diner after the movie, so Tristan and Rory walked back to the house alone. They flopped on the couch and turned on the TV. Lorelai found them asleep on the couch an hour later. She watched them sleep for a minute, shaking her head at the picture they made all wrapped up together. They were generally careful to maintain a physical boundary between them, but they apparently gravitated toward each other in their sleep. Their emotional boundary had long since fallen; the physical one may as well go now too, she mused. Yep, Dean was on his way out the door – no question. She sighed and sent Ben a text telling him Tristan was going to stay there that night.

She covered them up with a blanket. When Tristan's eyes opened blearily, she told him she'd sent his dad a text and he should stay here. He nodded and shifted down more, pulling Rory with him.

They woke up in the same position early in the morning. She was warm and comfortable, but her mind started working. Her head popped off his chest, "Oh shit, your dad. What time is it? You're going to get in trouble."

"No, Lorelai told him. I'm good." She relaxed back down, head and hand on his chest. "Sleep more?"

"Yeah, Mary." He smiled when she shifted onto him more and tightened his arms around her. "Go back to sleep."

She went to Dean's house that afternoon. He looked surprised when he opened the front door and saw her standing there. "Hey."

"Hey, Dean. Can we talk?"

He looked at his feet. "Sure. Want to walk?"

They walked towards the town square. "So, this is it, isn't it?"

"If it was, how would you feel about it," she asked him.

"Is it because of him?"

"No."

"Really?"

"Really. We changed. We're flat. We've been flat for a while now."

"Flat."

"Yes. When's the last time you were excited about coming to see me? Going out with me?"

"I like to see you."

"I like to see you, too. But, I mean, like really excited, looking forward to it – when's the last time you felt that?"

"I don't know."

"I don't know either. But it's been a while."

"Yeah, I guess." Then, "You'd have let this just float, if it hadn't been for him, though, right?"

"Maybe." Would she have just let things go on as they were, if Tristan weren't in the picture? Maybe. Probably.

She told her mom about Dean. Lorelai listened, not surprised by anything she heard.


	6. Chapter 6

She didn't tell Tristan about Dean until Louise forced her hand on Thursday. They were all standing by their lockers when Louise handed out invitations for a party that Saturday night. "You can bring that hot boyfriend of yours if you want, Rory."

Rory blushed and looked at Louise. "Umm, thanks, but it'd just be me."

Louise shrugged and turned to Tristan. "What about you? You haven't been around much these last few weeks. You missed a good one at Duncan's last weekend. You're going to come to my party, aren't you?"

He'd been staring at Rory, thinking something was up, but tore his gaze away to look at Louise. "I'll try, thanks."

They sat next to each other a few minutes later at a high-top table in Chemistry class. He listened to the teacher drone on, still thinking about Rory. He pushed his notebook closer to her and wrote in his. "What's wrong?"

She looked down at his question and then up at his face. "Nothing," she scribbled in her own notebook.

"Liar," he wrote. She looked at him. He wrote again.

"Are we going to Louise's party?"

"Do you want to?"

"If you do."

"Okay."

They locked eyes for a second. Tristan wrote, "Why aren't you asking Dean to come?"

She paused, staring at the notebook. Finally, she wrote, "We broke up."

He looked over at her, scribbled, "When?"

"Sunday." She watched his eyes widen a little.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

She shrugged her shoulders, uncomfortable. "I don't know."

He leaned over to her, just a few inches to put his mouth by her ear, "We're going to talk about this later, you know that?" She bit her lip, nodding.

Hours later, while she dug around his closet for a t-shirt and pair of jeans to change into, he talked to her from his room. "Come on, Mary. Spill it."

"Spill what?"

"You and Dean."

She pulled the clothes on. And then grabbed one of his sweatshirts. "Can I borrow this?" she asked walking out.

He was lying on his bed tossing a football in the air. "Yeah. Tell me what happened."

"It was time. He didn't even put up a fight."

"Why was it time?"

She sat on the edge of the bed. "That night, when you got in trouble, I never once considered Dean until you brought him up. He didn't even cross my mind. Shouldn't my boyfriend at least cross my mind before I agree to something like this? And then it became like work, hanging out with him, worrying about upsetting him. I like him. He's been a good friend. So we'll be friends."

He rolled over on his side to look at her. "If not for Louise's party, when would you have told me?"

She smiled at him. "Soon. I was getting there. I don't like not talking to you about things."

"I don't like you not talking to me about things. And we don't have to go to that party, if you don't want to."

"Apparently people are missing the King of Chilton."

"I am pretty cute."

"Agreed, but your ego is amazing."

He smirked at her. "We don't have much homework."

"No."

"Do you want to do something else then? Movie?"

She agreed and texted her mom she'd be late. They did the little bit of homework they had, ate with Grace, and went to the movies.

He was surprised when all she wanted was a Sprite. "You do see all this crap, right?" he said pointing to the concession stand.

She held onto her drink. "I'm good."

He shook his head. "Okay, Mary. You're a cheap date."

They sat down, middle of the theater, middle of the row. When the lights dimmed, she looked over at him. "Tristan?" He looked at her. "Is this a date?"

"Yes."

She bit her lip. "Are you sure?"

"I asked. You said yes. I bought you a drink. That's a date," he assured her and took her hand, weaving their fingers together.

She looked down at their hands. "How is this different from what we've been doing the last month?"

She looked up at his face when he squeezed her hand lightly. "I get to hold your hand now that Dean is gone."

"He's been gone for 10 seconds."

"Gone is gone. You can keep thinking about it, Mary. I'm not going anywhere."

"It's just …"

He cut her off. "It's okay, Rory. Really. I know you well enough now to know you're still processing and it's too soon to put everything in it's neat little box. In the meantime, I get to hold your hand and I'll probably try to kiss you later. Relax. We're not getting married tomorrow."

She let out the breath she'd been holding and smiled at him. "Okay."

Rory couldn't sleep that night. She kept thinking about their date. Their spur of the moment date had been the best one she'd ever been on. He'd held her hand, and she loved it. He'd tugged on her hand in the movie theater parking lot, pulling her into him, and kissed her. It was light and fast and gave her butterflies. He told her that way she wouldn't be worried about it the whole way home. He kissed her again in her car when she dropped him off, this time dragging his teeth over her lips. Right before he'd shut his door, he'd leaned back in and told her, "You keep thinking, Mary. I'm going to keep kissing you." She'd keep thinking. She liked him kissing her.

She wasn't entirely sure what she was thinking about. Her mind was too jumbled to focus. It felt too soon to jump into anything with Tristan. And, despite all the time they'd spent together, it was Tristan! The former bane of her existence. Granted, now, he was probably one of the two most important people in her life. She loved being with him. But they'd mostly been in isolation together. He'd get his life back at some point. Would she fit in there? She decided Saturday would give her an idea. His return to the kingdom he ruled, she mused.

She realized Friday that she'd been wrong to worry. They'd spent a lot of time alone together, but they'd also been out in the mix every day during the school day. He treated her the same as he always did, with the exception of new little things she noticed that day. He held her hand here and there, but only for brief periods of time. He put his hand on her lower back as they maneuvered through crowded hallways. He stood a little closer as she switched books out of her locker. Nothing major, and nothing anyone else would really notice, but she did. It was nice and gave her hope.

Lorelai never missed an opportunity to play dress up with Rory when she let her. So for Louise's party, she forced a black mini skirt on her, with a tight black sweater, black knee high boots, and an orange scarf. She looked sexy and festive since they'd hit October, but not too sexy, she told her, because Pretty Boy would get ideas. Lorelai didn't tell her Tristan already had ideas. Rory knew it.

He was waiting in the driveway when she picked him up Saturday night. He climbed in and got a look at her, "Good lord, Mary."

"Well, I heard Bowman was going to be there tonight," she teased him.

"Bowman will spend his whole night in the bathroom."

"Tristan!"

He laughed as she drove them the few blocks to Louise's house, leaning over and kissing her, just a peck, before they got out. He told her, "I know you're not a big fan of these kinds of parties, so we can leave whenever you want. We can get food or go back to my house, or whatever. Ok?"

She smiled at him. "I'm a big girl, Tristan. I can go to a party. And I can tell you when I'm ready to go." But she considered the difference between him and Dean as she got out and rounded the car towards him. She held out her hand and he slid his around hers. "Thanks, though." She squeezed his before letting it go to ring the doorbell.

Louise greeted them at the door. She eyed Rory. "Gilmore. You look like a girl! A really hot girl."

"Gee, thanks, Louise."

Louise smirked. "And I guess you've switched out guys," she said, gesturing to Tristan. She looked at Tristan. "This party is heavily weighted to guys. I'm in the market. You might want to keep an eye on your Mary, especially looking like that."

Tristan laughed and tugged Rory closer to him. Rory rolled her eyes, "Are you going to let us in, Louise?"

"Yep. Come on in. Drinks are in the kitchen. Easier to clean up before my parents come home tomorrow."

They mingled for a little bit. Tristan knew everyone and easily kept her involved. They both had to work hard at keeping straight faces when they talked to Bowman and Duncan. "Watch him," Tristan told her. He put his arm around her waist and his hand sat low on her hip. He waited for Bowman to tune in, and moved his hand slowly up her side, stopping just short of her breast. Breaking the spell, Tristan asked her if she wanted to get a drink. They saw Bowman excuse himself before they headed to the kitchen. "Told you." Rory looked horrified.

They talked to Paris for a few minutes. Paris was over Tristan. In fact, she told him she was glad he was finally hanging around someone with half a brain. Rory flicked her off, "I've got a whole brain, Paris." Paris laughed, "I know, Number 1. I might get you this semester." Rory smiled, "We'll see. And I'm on Tristan's ass. Maybe he'll beat us." Paris actually liked that, "Pretty and smart, Dugrey? Bring it." Tristan shook his head. Rory explained, "Welcome to dork humor."

He went to get a drink, leaving Rory and Paris to watch Louise climb up on the fireplace. Paris, being Paris, leaned towards Rory and asked, "Jesus, how much has she had to drink? Think she'll fall off?" They watched her teeter a little bit. "Oh god," Rory whispered. Much to her relief, Louise got her footing and announced, "Everyone pick a partner. And pick someone you wouldn't mind kissing, because you might have to, depending on your luck."

Rory wrinkled her face. Paris was more vocal, "I hate her. And she'll tell my mom if I don't play." Rory was distracted and didn't notice Bowman had walked over to them. "Need a partner, Rory?"

Oh, holy crap, she thought. And no freaking way. "Um, I think I probably," she started. And Tristan finished, "have a partner," handing her a bottle of water and sliding his other hand around hers. "Come on, Mary."

Seats were mostly taken. Rather than the floor, she sat on some sort of desk in a corner, careful to keep her skirt level, and he leaned against it next to her. Louise explained the game and the rules. Basically, she'd bought a set of dice with what she called make-out words on them. One had an action word and one had a body part. She showed an example, "kiss" and "lips." One partner rolled and the other had to do it. If they passed, both had to take a shot. Rory rolled her eyes. No one was going to pass anything. Most of the kids at this party had the sexual experience of people in their twenties. Why they were interested in this was beyond her.

Louise and Bowman went first. She rolled lick and neck. Rory wrinkled her nose when Bowman licked her neck. "Eww. He's gross." She whispered.

Paris and Ryan, a guy from their class, got touch and hand. Paris smirked and touched his hand.

It went on for a few minutes, with various combinations of dice, and various reactions from laughing to catcalls. There were going to be a lot of hickeys. Rory grimaced when someone got suck navel. Rory leaned over to Tristan. "Just FYI – I'm not doing that in a room full of people."

He looked hopeful, "When we get home?" She snorted. When more people came in, she hopped down to make room and he pulled her in front of him.

When it was almost their turn, Rory whispered to him, "Whose rolling?"

"Up to you."

She thought about it. So long he told her quietly, "Why don't you roll, and that way I do whatever it is. That make you feel better?"

"You calling me a chicken?"

"Mary."

"You're rolling."

He laughed. "Fine."

They were all interested in Rory and Tristan. First, because it was Tristan and he was, well, Tristan. Second, because it was Rory and she rarely came to Chilton parties. And third, because it was Tristan and Rory, who argued a lot and now seemed to be attached at the hip.

Tristan had the dice. "Here goes, Mary."

Suck ear.

She looked at him confused. Only he could see her face. He leaned down and whispered, "Just the bottom part, Mary." She whispered back, "Weird."

"I'll take your mouth on me however I can get it."

She put her hand on the back of his neck, slid it up into his hair, and leaned up to gently suck on the bottom part of his ear. He had his hands on her hips and squeezed gently when she finished. "So weird," she told him before turning back around and leaning back into him again, his arms going around her waist.

She thought about the ear thing as other people took their turns. Weird concept but she liked doing it. "So, the ear thing, that's a thing?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think. It felt like a thing."

She turned her head to look back at him. "You've never done that?"

"Nope."

Raising her eyebrows at him, she asked, "Should I call you Mary?"

Taking the bait, he leaned down and whispered, "Take your earring off. This side," he said patting her side towards the wall so they stayed semi-hidden.

She did, and felt her stomach tighten when his mouth closed around her ear. She felt his tongue and when he sucked on it, she grabbed onto his hands in front of her. When he finally let it go, he whispered, "So, it's a thing?"

She felt like putty. "God, yeah, it's a thing."

He laughed. "Come on, I'm going to get one more drink. Want to go after that?"

They got back to his house and settled into the family room to watch TV. He pulled her partially into his lap and she curled up onto him. Within minutes, she was out. Tristan was staring at her, amazed at her ability to fall asleep at any time, when his dad walked in. "Tristan."

"Um, hi, Dad." It was a little awkward because he had an arm full of Rory.

"How was the party?"

"It was good. We only stayed a few hours."

Ben looked at Rory. She was out, like really out. Which made him think, "She's not drunk, is she?"

Tristan laughed. "She had three waters. She just falls asleep really fast."

Ben sat down in a chair. "I'll text Lorelai and make sure she can stay here tonight." That done, he looked back at them. "So, was this a date?"

Tristan smiled down at her. "Yeah."

"I kind of figured that, since your hand is on her ass." Tristan laughed again, his hand was on her ass, but it was really the only thing preventing her from giving his dad an eyeful. Her skirt was really short and had ridden up.

Ben's phone beeped. "Lorelai says she can stay. Why don't you take her upstairs and put her in a bed."

He shook her gently. "Rory, you need to wake up." She lifted her head a little. "Ick, you drooled all over me, Mary." Ben laughed. And then stood up to leave when he saw Rory stretch and her skirt started to shift even more. Tristan groaned. "Come on, your mom said you can stay here tonight. Let's go to bed." She was still disoriented, but she let him drag her up to his room. She sat on the bed and he tossed her a t-shirt and boxers. "I'm going into the bathroom, put these on."

He came back out a few minutes later, in a t-shirt and boxers. She was in his bed in his t-shirt. But the boxers were still on the bed and her party clothes were on the floor. "Oh boy," he said to himself. He picked her stuff up and tossed it in his hamper on the way to his door when he heard a knock. Ben stood there and looked in the room, "This is where you took her? I meant for you to put her into an empty bed," he said emphasizing the word empty. He saw her already asleep.

"She's fine, Dad. I've got her."

Ben looked at him and finally nodded. "Okay."

Tristan shut the door, tossed his t-shirt, and climbed into his bed. They'd slept together on couches, but never in a bed. Lorelai would probably have a shit fit if she knew Rory was in his bed. His dad wasn't very happy about it either. But he was. He pulled her to him and smiled when she buried her face between his shoulder and chest and put her hand up by his neck.

Rory woke up in the middle of the night and found herself in Tristan's bed. She lifted her head off his chest and turned over onto her side taking his arms with her and scooted back into him a little. He didn't wake up but pulled her a little closer. She liked sleeping with him. Did seventeen-year-olds have sleepovers this often, she wondered?

It was almost 10:00 before she and Tristan woke up Sunday morning. She stretched and realized a second later that her shirt had ridden up because she felt Tristan's hand partially on her hip and partially on her bare ass cheek.

"Rory, I'm not complaining, but are you not wearing underwear?"

She snorted. "Thong."

"Ah. Okay."

"Thanks for letting me stay."

"I've been trying to get you in my bed, for...wait, when did you come to Chilton last year? January?"

"Yep."

"Okay, I've been trying to get you in my bed for over nine months. And now you're here," he told her smugly. "And I've got my hand on your ass."

"I'm aware of that." She pushed up on her elbows to stretch. "And I'm pretty sure you haven't had any trouble finding others to get into this bed with you. What number am I in here, Tristan?"

"Number one," he told her smiling. At her look, he told her, "It's my space. I haven't ever wanted anyone in here before."

She shut her eyes. "You know, if you'd led with some of these lines, and not the ones you did last year, you might have been successful sooner."

He reached for her. "Oh god, no. My mouth feels like something died in it."

She hopped up and the t-shirt landed mid-thigh. She looked down and shook her head. "Hey, I gave you boxer shorts. You didn't use them," he wagged his eyebrows at her. He watched her head towards the bathroom.

He heard her banging around, and then the shower running a few minutes later. Then he heard more banging around, a hair dryer fire up, and 5 minutes later she emerged in his shirt again, walked into his closet, and came out a few minutes later fully dressed.

She sat at his desk, pulled her boots on and stood. "I've got to get home. My mom and I are going shopping and then have Halloween stuff."

"How's the thinking coming, Mary?"

"It's coming." She looked at him all messy bedhead in his bed. "You look awfully cute, Dugrey."

He pushed up on his elbows. "Cute enough for you to climb back in here?"

"Yeah." She smiled at him, "But I'm still leaving."

"Mean!"


	7. Chapter 7

Running out to her car on Monday morning, she fired off a text to Tristan.

"I'm on my way to you now. You've got almost all of my uniforms!"

He heard his phone beep and groaned. He reached for it without opening his eyes, knocking his alarm clock off the nightstand. Shit. He looked at her text and laughed. He shot back, "What are you wearing then, Mary?"

He rubbed his hand over his face and dragged himself out of bed and into the shower, knowing she'd probably be there in 20 minutes. He'd gotten his pants on and was just about to button them up when she burst through his bedroom door.

"Eek. Why aren't you dressed? We have to leave in 10 minutes!" Despite the urgency in her voice, she stood still. Tristan smirked at her. "Should I finish putting my pants on, or take them off? Your call, Mary." After a second, she grinned at him and walked backwards towards his closet, keeping her eyes on him. "All that running pays off, Dugrey," she told him, disappearing into the closet to change.

She grabbed one of her uniforms off the hanger and quickly switched out her jeans and t-shirt for the plaid skirt and sweater vest. She called out to him, "These uniforms are really ridiculous. Who wears this much plaid?" She was bent over pulling on her knee high socks when she saw him from her upside down perspective leaning against the door frame. She stood and blew her hair out of her face. "It's cold out. You might want to put a shirt on. But good job getting the pants buttoned and zipped up."

"I figured you might want me to give you a minute before I came in here for my shirt." He reached for a t-shirt and pulled it over his head before grabbing the blue button down.

She wrinkled her nose. "Why don't the boys have to wear plaid?"

"I like the plaid. And lucky for you, it matches your blue underwear." She blushed and made a mental note to be more careful about bending over in her uniform. Ugh.

"Do you think Grace has coffee on? I dug around my closet this morning and realized my mom must have taken my uniforms to the cleaners, and panicked. I swear half my wardrobe is here. Is that weird? I need to take some of this home, especially the uniforms. I haven't put any makeup on and I haven't had any coffee. Hell of a day so far."

He brushed her hair the rest of the way out of her face. "Chill, Mary. You spend half your time here, so it makes sense that half your clothes are here. And you don't need makeup. Let's get you coffee and then we have to go. Chemistry class awaits."

She whipped the SUV into the Chilton parking lot and they half jogged to class, sliding into their seats as the bell rang. She laughed a few minutes later when she read the note he tossed over her shoulder. "I'm glad we weren't late. But it might have been fun watching you explain to Ben why I got a detention."

She scribbled back, "Good news is I found my clothes, Ben. Bad news is it took your kid 10 minutes to get his pants on and we were late. Whoops!" She heard him laugh and cover it with a cough, and smiled.

Tristan leaned back in his chair and zoned out thinking about their morning, particularly Rory's ass in the air giving him a clear view of lacy blue underwear. She was going to be pissed when she saw the gaps in his notes later this afternoon, but he'd remind her it was her fault.

Sure enough, she was glaring at him when he walked back into the pool house after his post-run shower that afternoon. His notebook was opened on her lap. "I know you were in chemistry today. What the hell, Tristan?"

Anticipating the battle, he sat next to her on the couch and smiled. "I was distracted."

She rolled her eyes, reaching for her own notebook to hand him. "By what? A squirrel?"

"Your ass. Lacy underwear."

She elbowed him and snorted. "Sure. I'm sure it's the first time you've seen an ass and lace and it mesmerized you."

"First time I've seen yours and it did. All day."

"So you're saying I'm going to find gaps in your notes in every subject?"

He smiled at her, "Yep," popping the 'p.'

"Get copying, Dugrey." She dumped notebooks on his lap.

An hour later, after Tristan figured out what he missed thinking about her ass and Rory drafted part of her article for the Franklin, he was sprawled out on the couch reading the latest assigned Shakespeare while she talked to her mom. "He's reading Hamlet and complaining like a four-year old. I'm not sure he'll have time to eat dinner since he's averaging about ten words a minute." She yelped when he reached down to her on the floor and pinched her. "Ow, jerk," she stuck her tongue out at him. "Mom's class just ended and she's in Hartford. You want to meet her and eat?" At his nod, she told Lorelai they'd meet her in 10 minutes.

They ran into Tristan's dad outside the pool house. "Hey," he said to them. Tristan looked at his phone. "You're home at 5:30? And wearing jeans. Is the apocalypse coming?" Rory rolled her eyes, "We just finished Bloodline. He wants to do a zombie apocalypse series next. I'm fighting it. That'll give me nightmares."

Rory looked at Tristan and bit her lip. "Um, so we're on our way to meet my mom for dinner. She's in Hartford. Nothing fancy – Italian," she told him the place. "Do you want to come maybe?"

Both Dugreys stared at her. Under their scrutiny, she noticed again how much alike they were and smiled. Tristan totally got his mannerisms from his dad. They probably didn't realize it, but they were both doing the thing where they put their hands deep in their pockets and lean slightly backwards. After what seemed like hours, but was probably only seconds, he accepted and followed them out.

Once they were in the car and his dad was in his car following them, Tristan finally opened his mouth. She cut him off. "I think he came home early to see you." He nodded. "Yeah, I figured." She reached over and grabbed his hand to squeeze. "So it was either you stayed home with him, or I invited him with us. Did I pick wrong?"

"No, this is fine. Weird but fine. I'm sure Lorelai will be pumped."

"Crap! Yeah, will you dig out my phone and text my mom he's coming. She'll kill me if I don't give her a head's up."

"And if you do give her a head's up, she'll flee the building before we get there."

"Nah. She likes me. She'll stay to protect me from the Dugrey men."

They made it through dinner without any major mishaps. Conversation was easy, and the Gilmore girls were pleased to see Ben could keep up with the witty banter on current events, pop culture, and a multitude of totally useless subjects. Much different from the mostly polite conversation they had at the Gilmore dinner. When Lorelai and Rory finally sat back and claimed to be full, Tristan looked around. "Are you sure? Because I think those people over there still have some bread on their table. We could maybe ask them for it." Ben, being born and bred into Hartford society, had kept his comments to himself while he listened to their order and figured they just wanted to try a few things, and had also kept his expression polite when they cleared every single plate.

Lorelai glared at Tristan. "Can it, Spawn of Satan." Rory choked on her drink, and Tristan rubbed her back, smiling at the reference. Lorelai, realizing what she said, burst out laughing. "Okay, well, there's a story there," she told Ben. "So, when Rory first started at Chilton, Tristan teased her a lot. Nicknamed her Mary." When Ben just looked at her, she went on, "You know, like Virgin Mary?"

"Yes, Lorelai. I caught onto that. Please continue."

"To make her feel better, we came up with some names for him. One of which was Spawn of Satan. So I guess that makes you Satan since he's your spawn," she told him smiling.

"Aren't you glad you came, Mr. Dugrey?" He smiled at Rory. "Will you please call me Ben, finally? And actually, I am. This has been enlightening. My only question at this point, is why don't you two eat like that at the Gilmores?"

They both wrinkled their noses. Knowing Lorelai would go off on a society-driven rant, Rory fielded that one. "It's hard to get through the food Grandma serves sometimes. Too rich. Except on pot roast night. That's a good night." She looked over at her mom and smiled. "And, a lot of Friday nights, we stop at Luke's on the way home and get a burger."

"And coffee," Lorelai said holding up the giant cup that had just been delivered to her.

"Luke's?"

"It's a diner in walking distance of our house. We go there a lot. Luke knows not to shut the kitchen down too early on Friday nights." She reached for her phone when it rang, apologizing to them. "Paris. She'll track me down if I don't answer. Excuse me," she went to stand, but sat when Lorelai waved her back into her seat. "No, you don't need to drive all the way to Stars Hollow, Paris. I'm still in Hartford. Yes. I'll bring them to you. It's fine. Fifteen minutes. Yes, Paris." Rory dropped her head on the table. "I've got to take Paris some notes before I go home. Otherwise, I'll wake up in the middle of the night and she'll be standing by my bed." Tristan laughed, knowing it was true. "She's probably timing you, too." Tristan and Rory said goodnight and excused themselves.

Lorelai studied Ben over her coffee. He wore jeans, which surprised her, and a button down shirt untucked. It struck her as too casual for him, Ben Dugrey, CEO of Dugrey Global, but he seemed comfortable. "You realize it's only a matter of time before those two get together officially, right? They're with each other too much, in each other's space too much, for them not to be together-together eventually."

He nodded, knowing she wasn't finished. "Rory's first boyfriend was simple and sweet. Rory and Tristan, they've got this electric current running between them. It's giving me a whole new set of problems to worry about, and I fully anticipate some sleepless nights."

Ben figured it was finally his turn to speak. "Rory is the most responsible kid I've ever seen, Lorelai. I'm sure she'll make good decisions."

She scoffed. "Rory's a kickass kid. But good decisions go out the window when faced with teenage hormones and a guy who looks like Tristan. I'm living proof. You ever see Christopher Hayden? Me, Chris, a balcony, and along came baby Rory nine months later." Ben smiled, knowing the story. "I like Tristan, which is good because Rory really likes him, but they're in two different leagues experience-wise. And don't get me wrong, I can see he's gentle with her. The player-vibe is there, but toned down, like he's stored it away. Do I sound crazy? It has to be easier to be the parent of the guy than the girl."

He studied her, much like she'd done. He chose his words carefully. "Tristan got a bad draw in the parent department. I was gone a lot, and his mom isn't going to win the mother-of-the-year award. Even when I was home," he paused, "let's just say my parenting skills are suspect, obviously. So I'm probably not the best person to give advice. But I can tell you, while I don't necessarily trust Tristan not to pull some asinine prank that will get him kicked out of school or land his ass in juvenile detention or jail, I do trust him to be careful with Rory. He's different with her. And while that might give you cause for concern, it gives me hope." She smiled at him. He continued, "Did you know he runs on the treadmill while she sits on the couch eating popcorn and they watch Netflix? It's the first thing they do when they get back from school. Unless they swim first."

She raised an eyebrow. "You spy on them?"

He laughed and shook his head. "No. Our cook gives her the popcorn. And coffee."

"Duh." Lorelai took the last sip of her own coffee. "Well, you and Rory struck a deal and threw us all into this weird reality, so I guess we'll see how it plays out. I may need Xanax before it's over." They stood, but before she turned to walk out, she told him, "And you're here with him now. That's what matters."

Outside, Tristan told Rory that was less like the zombie apocalypse and more like the twilight zone. She laughed, "But we survived it."

He reached for her hand and smiled at her. "Yeah, we did."

They walked in comfortable silence until they reached her car. She decided it was time. She looked over at him, keeping their hands together. "I'm done thinking."

Tristan stilled. "Yeah?"

"Yep. Fully processed."

He didn't move. "And?"

"Yes." She saw him visibly relax.

"Really?"

"Yes. Did you think I was going to say no?"

He bit his lip and lifted his shoulders. He looked serious. "I was a little worried you'd say let's be friends."

Well, shit, she thought. She hadn't meant for him to worry. She stepped towards him to hug him and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "I was always going to say yes. It took a while because I had to work it all out in my mind, like you said, and," she leaned back out so she could look him in the eye, "and work up enough courage to tell you," she paused and took a breathe. "Tell you, I love you. I love you, Tristan." She smiled at him, nerves causing the butterflies in her stomach to work double time.

He kept his eyes on her and pulled her back into him. He kissed her long and hard, and she had to hold onto his neck to keep her balance. Finally letting her mouth go, he rested his forehead on hers. "I love you, too, Rory. So much." They stayed joined like that and stared at each other.

"I loved you while I was with Dean."

"I loved you while you were with Dean."

"None of that was fair to him."

"Maybe not. But it's done."

"I never loved Dean."

"I've never loved anyone else."

He kissed her again, lighter this time lighter, though not loosening his grip on her. She smiled at him and told him he was going to have to let her go at some point.

He groaned. "Not yet. I wish you could stay with me tonight."

She smirked at him. "In a hurry to de-Mary me, Tristan?"

He smirked back. "Nope."

She looked at him, a mixture of surprise and amusement running across her face. "Really? You don't want to?"

He laughed at her confusion. "I want to do everything with you, Rory," he whispered in her ear. Now, she groaned. "But I meant I like having you in bed with me, sleeping with me."

"I like it too."

"And, plus," he told her wagging his eyebrows, "there's lots of stuff we can do without de-Marying you. We can focus on that first."

She looked up at him. "I'm sure you'll show me."

He leaned down. "I love you."


	8. Chapter 8

She was in her own little world walking down the hall. Thinking of the night before. Tristan holding onto her, kissing her, telling her he loved her. Their texting later that night. About how she told Lorelai they were together, officially. How he told Ben, who gave him another beer and reminded him to be careful with her.

She was pulled from her daydream when she heard her name. "Hey Rory." Jason Williams stood by her locker. A friend of Tristan's. Or, at least a guy that hung in the same group as Tristan. "Hi, Jason. What's up?"

"I was waiting for you."

She stared. "Okay," she said, waiting for him to talk.

"Will you go to Homecoming with me?" He told her a group of kids was going to the dance and hanging out afterwards, naming Hartford's swankiest hotel. "So, it should be a good time. What do you say?"

She listened, surprised. He'd never said two words to her before, and now he wanted to take her to a dance? "That's really nice, Jason, but I can't. I'm sorry."

"Do you already have a date?"

"Well, no."

"Then why not?"

She saw Tristan approaching and smiled when he stopped a few feet away, but close enough to listen. "Well, I can't go to Homecoming with you because I'm assuming my boyfriend will eventually ask me to go."

"Word around school is you and your boyfriend broke up. You came to Louise's party with Tristan, which tells me you probably don't have a boyfriend."

She stared at him, wondering if he was really that dense. "I went to the party with Tristan."

"Yeah. Everyone knows he's been trying to hook up with you since you came to Chilton."

Rory rolled her eyes. "And so Saturday night, when you saw us, was just the hook up you and everyone else has been anticipating?"

"Well, yeah."

Rory laughed. "And that's why you're now suddenly asking me to the dance and to a hotel? Because Tristan got me. And, I guess, then tossed me aside, making me available?"

"Well ..."

Tristan didn't think it was nearly as funny. "What the fuck, dude."

Jason turned and looked at Tristan and back at Rory. Rory pointed to Tristan. "Boyfriend." Jason took off, fast, and without another word.

Rory smiled at Tristan across her locker, "Look at the bright side. He was respecting your claim until he thought I was fair game."

He took a step towards her. "He's a dumbass. But, seeing how this place is full of dumbasses, I think I should stake my claim now. To avoid any future confusion." He took another step and put his hand on her hip pulling her closer. "You okay with that?"

She leaned into him. "Stake away." And he did. Until the sound of clapping broke through their focus. Looking around, slightly dazed, and seeing a hallway full of kids clapping and staring, she whispered, "I think it worked."

Paris worked her way through the crowd, "Thank God. The speculation was getting tedious. I'm tired of hearing about you two."

"Sad I'm off the market, Paris?"

She snorted. "I'd laugh, except there probably are dozens of dingbats who are, in fact, sad you're off the market."

He laughed with her, slinging one arm around her and the other around Rory, and walked them all to class.

Later that afternoon, Tristan let Rory do her laps before he started teasing her. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in, causing her to wrap her legs around him. "Now that we're together, is your self-imposed look but don't touch rule done?"

She rolled her eyes. He'd caught her staring at him without a shirt a hundred times. But she did want to touch. She ran her hands through his hair and made it spiky. She ran her hands over his shoulders and upper arms, over his chest. She couldn't get to his abs because they were too close. "That first time you ran on the treadmill, you pulled your shirt off as you left. Oh my god. I think I stared at the door until you came back."

"You weren't very good at hiding it."

"Now I don't have to be."

"Nope. In fact, I insist you ogle me. A lot." He leaned in to kiss her.

He carried her over to the steps. "Tristan, what are you doing? Put me down!" He walked out with her.

She screeched. "Holy shit, it's cold." He bent down so she could grab towels off the lounge chair, and she wrapped one around him and one around her.

"Are you going to put me down?"

"No."

"Can we go inside?"

"Yep." He carried her into pool house and sat on couch taking her with him.

"You just trying to show off?"

"Yeah, you impressed with my muscles?"

"They're way better than mine." She tried to make a muscle. "I probably won't be carrying you anywhere."

"It's okay," he told her, leaning in to suck on her ear. "God," she moaned. "It's so weird."

She did his. "Guess we can thank Louise for that," he mused.

Rory kissed him one last time and pushed off his lap. "Homework," she told him. He reached for her, "No homework." She bounced back to evade his grasp and stuck her tongue out at him. He was up and almost to her when he heard the pool house door open.

She spun around and stared as Bowman, Duncan, Jason, and another kid she didn't know appeared in the room. The guys all stared at Rory, openly running their eyes over her bikini-clad body. Tristan rolled his eyes, grabbed his t-shirt off the couch and handed it to her. She quickly pulled it over her head, as he talked to them. "What's up, guys?"

Bowman, still staring at Rory, answered, "We heard a rumor about you and Gilmore, which I'm guessing isn't a rumor, and thought we'd come visit."

Curious, she asked, "What's the rumor?"

"That you guys are together. And I'm guessing you are. Nice bathing suit, by the way."

She stared him down and then laughed, before she excused herself, telling them she was going to see Grace to get some coffee.

Tristan and the guys flopped down on the couches. He couldn't resist teasing them, "Slow day for you all? Out like a bunch of girls looking for gossip?"

Jason piped in, "Come on, man. You have to admit, you and Gilmore, that's surprising."

Duncan tossed in, "Although, good find, dude. Never would have guessed that body was hidden under the uniform."

Kyle, the last one to comment, "Yeah, she's fucking hot. Those legs."

Bowman groaned, "I'm going to picture those legs wrapped around me tonight. The bathing suit is hot, but she won't be wearing it."

Tristan was a little less amused now. He wasn't used to feeling possessive over a girl, but he wasn't a fan of his friends talking about Rory. "Hey dumb fuck, stop talking."

"What? She's off limits while she's with you?"

"Yes. She's off limits while she's with me."

"This is new. When do you think she might not be with you?"

Tristan smirked. "About the same time you need a little blue pill to get it up."

Bowman laughed. "Fine, so not anytime soon, I hope."

Rory came back in a few minutes later, now in yoga pants and her own t-shirt, holding her coffee and his t-shirt, and sat next to him when he reached out and pulled her down. "So," she asked, "what are we talking about?" At their silence, she pushed, "Come on, boys. Surely you've got some other gossip?" The visitors all groaned, and Tristan smiled at her.

A little while later, they were gone and Tristan and Rory were finishing up their homework. Shutting her notebook, she looked over at Tristan. "So, is there something you wanted to ask me?"

He looked up from his notes and squinted at her, clueless.

She hinted, fluttering her eyelashes at him, "Something about what I might want to do next weekend?"

Ah, he thought. He pretended to consider it. "Hmm. Do I still have to ask you even though you're my girlfriend? Isn't it a given?"

"Yes, and no!"

"Okay, fine. Do you want to go to the dance with me?"

"Yes! As long as you're not an ass at this one too."

"I won't be. I got the girl this time."

"So I should tell Jason no?"

"Prick."

"He did offer to take me to a hotel. Sounds fancy."

"Your mom isn't going to go for a hotel."

"Nope. She might let you sleep over though."

"Really?"

"If I pitch the hotel idea first, our house will seem tame."

"Ugh. But then she'll think I'm trying to get you to a hotel. I'm trying to make her like me."

"She does like you. I talked to her last night, I told you. She's happy for us."

"Until she catches me with my hands on you."

"She had me at my age already. She's not a prude."

"Yeah, I guess."

"And you and your dad had a beer to celebrate."

"Yeah. I think it's becoming our thing. First time was the night you dropped me off from Yale. He said I went to college that day."

"Hey, that's what I said!" He smiled. "So what, you bonded over a beer?"

"Kind of. I told him about Yale. He asked about you and me."

"And?"

"I told him I loved you."

"Oh boy."

"Yeah. And that was the night you had to drop me off to go meet Dean at a party. I was bummed."

She scooted over to him and laid her head on his shoulder. "I know. Me too."

He pulled her onto his lap. "And the night I had to watch him kiss you."

"That wasn't much of a kiss."

"I know. But still. It wasn't my favorite thing to do."

"I'm sorry. I didn't want him to kiss me."

"If there's ever another guy hanging around you, and I'm about to kiss you, it's going to be a real kiss. Like 'get a room' kiss." He leaned down and gave her a "get a room' kiss.

When he let her mouth go, she rested her forehead against his. "I get all tingly just being near you, Tristan. I wouldn't worry about ramping up the kissing. Any more and I might pass out." Then, she told him, "If it makes you feel any better, that was the last time he kissed me."

"It does."

"And he never slept over."

"Good."

"And we never went swimming."

"So no bikini?"

"Nope."

"And he never carried me anywhere."

"Dumbass."


	9. Chapter 9

Rory walked in the house, yelling, "Mom! We're going to Homecoming next Friday. I need a dress!"

Lorelai came out of the kitchen holding a jar of peanut butter licking the spoon, "Ooh. Fun! Buy or make?"

"Up to you," Rory told her, flopping on the couch, trusting in the fashion genius that was her mom.

"Hmm. I'm in Hartford tomorrow. Let's see what we find. And if we can't, I'll make it." She studied her daughter, "I assume you want full coverage. To the ankles, up the neck, down to the wrists. So the Spawn of Satan doesn't see anything."

"Funny. What happened to Pretty Boy?" she asked, taking the peanut butter from her mom for a bite.

"He became your boyfriend. And poses too big of a risk now to deserve the nicer name."

Rory rolled her eyes, grabbing her phone when it beeped.

"My dad says I can actually pick you up for the dance. Haha."

Rory laughed out loud and told Lorelai.

"So, what's the plan then?"

"The dance is at the school. And some kids are going straight from there to a hotel just down the street to stay the night."

"A hotel?"

"Yeah."

Lorelai bit her lip. "I don't know. What does Tristan say?"

"He says, and I quote, leave me out of it because I doesn't want your mom mad at me."

She smiled, even though her stomach was in a knot. "Okay, maybe he's smart and pretty." Then, "Do you want to go? To the hotel?"

Rory studied her mom. "I feel like you're reading too much into this. This isn't an effort to be alone with Tristan. We're alone for hours every day." She let that sink in. "So, sure, I'd like to go, but it won't be the end of the world if I can't.

Lorelai was sitting on the edge of the couch, with her hands folded in front of her mouth. "Is this like a group of kids in one room? Or pairing off into separate rooms?"

"I've never done this. I have no idea."

"Can you find out?"

"Um, sure. But remember that trust thing? Me, you?"

"I know, Rory. I'm trying."

"Seventeen, Mom. Eighteen in a week."

"I know, Rory. Seventeen, eighteen in a week, with an insanely hot boyfriend." She paused. "Find out. I feel like I'm aging here at a rapid rate."

They walked to Luke's for dinner, determining that peanut butter wasn't getting it done. They ate burgers and gossiped with Lane on her break, talking about Tristan's birthday this week and hers the next. Lorelai sprung the hotel possibility on Lane, whose eyes got wide at the thought. Lane leaned over to Lorelai to ask what she thought would happen that night. Rory laughed, "Hello, right here." Lorelai and Lane looked at her for a second and then went back to ignoring her. Lane told Lorelai, "You know, with both of them turning eighteen, they could run away and get married." Rory dropped her head to the table in frustration.

She called him that night. "So, she didn't say no to the hotel."

"Are you kidding me?"

"No. I reminded her that we spend hours alone every day. She wants more info."

"What kind of info?"

She told him.

"I was solo last dance."

She cut him off, "Because you were pining for me."

"Right. I went over to hang out for a few hours."

"And?"

"It was a suite so it had some separate rooms. I'm not sure that's what your mom wants to hear."

"But lots of people roaming around? Other people are the key."

"Yeah."

Happy with the answer, she reported back to Lorelai, who caved. "Fine, but only because I trust you." Rory bounced around and hugged her. "Well, don't be too happy. I didn't tell you the bad news yet. We've been summoned to the Dugreys this Friday."

"Huh? I'm at the Dugreys most days."

"The senior Dugreys."

"What? Why?"

"Because Emily says so. It's that reciprocal hosting thing. Friday night dinner lives on, just at a different location."

"Oh boy. Well the dance gets us out of one."

"Yeah. But first we get rehearsal dinner #2, except this might be a real one now that the grandchildren are together for real."

As planned earlier in the week with Ben, Rory arrived at Tristan's before morning light on Thursday. She snuck up the stairs, crept into his bedroom, and climbed into bed with him. She was all showered and ready for school, except she'd put her pajamas back on to come over, and he was all warm and, as she found out when she snuggled under the covers and stretched out part way on top of him, naked. She took a moment to appreciate the feel of naked Tristan and watched him sleep before putting her chin on his chest and running her hand through his hair. She smiled when his arms came up and around her before he fully woke up. When his eyes opened, she smiled at him and leaned up to chew lightly on his lips. "Morning, Birthday Boy!"

"Hmm, Mary. In my bed." He ran his hands down her back and under her t-shirt. "You're so soft." He flipped them over, hovering over her. Without thinking, she spread her legs so he settled between them and rubbed her hands down his back. She felt soft skin over hard muscle and moaned into his mouth. He looked over at his alarm clock, and smirked. "If you're my present, I've got time to unwrap you." She grinned back, knowing he was just messing with her. "Nope, you don't. You need to get up and get ready. Your dad and Grace are waiting downstairs for your birthday breakfast, before we have to get to school. They were nice enough to celebrate your birthday this early so I can take you out later tonight." She smacked his ass - she couldn't resist - and told him to hit the shower.

"You realize I'm naked under here, right?"

"I do. It was a nice surprise. It's like it's MY birthday and not yours because I'm about to get breakfast AND a show," she smirked cheekily.

He pretended to pout. "That doesn't seem fair."

She studied him. "Here, scoot back because we really do have to get up and downstairs soon." He leaned back and she crawled out from under him and stood by the bed. "I'm not getting naked, but I do have to change into my uniform, so I can even us out a little bit." She bit her lip nervously, before pulling down her pajama pants and stepping out of them and then lifting off her t-shirt, leaving her standing in front of him in a matching pink lace bra and thong. He stared at her and visibly swallowed before climbing out of bed. She watched him toss off the covers and stand, her eyes on him. This was so not part of the plan, and her heart was racing. He was perfect, as she knew he would be. He stepped toward her and cupped her face before leaning down, "I love you, Rory." She felt him hard against her and, wanting to feel more, leaned in closer, whispering, "I love you too. Happy birthday, Trisan," before kissing him. Finally breaking away, he stepped into the bathroom to get cleaned up and she went to his closet to find a uniform.

Ben smiled when they came into the kitchen, so obviously happy with each other. And he was happy Tristan had found a girlfriend who understood he and Grace would want to do something with them and arranged it. They ate, and Tristan opened a present from Grace (a picture of him and Rory their first weekend at the house) and got, but didn't get to open, an envelope from Ben. It was handed to Rory, who smiled at Tristan and told him patience was a virtue.

He pestered her all day trying to figure out what they were doing that night. She drove him home, made him do his homework, and then dragged him up to his room to pick out his clothes. He smiled at her when she handed him the clothes and pushed him into the bathroom to get dressed. He came out five minutes later to find her standing in his room waiting for him in a short, tight, strapless white dress. "Holy shit, Mary. You look hot." She reached for his hand, "Come on, we have to go."

He stared at her as she drove them. "Seriously, you look amazing, Rory."

She smiled at him, "Thank you." He wasn't paying any attention to the road and was surprised when ten minutes later they pulled into the DG parking garage. He was quiet as they got in the elevator, she hit the button for the roof, the doors opened, and she pulled him through the glass doors to the outside and towards the waiting helicopter. "No way."

She laughed, "Yes way."

The pilot waved them over, and Tristan helped Rory up before hopping in himself. "Still not telling me where we're going?"

"Nope. Relax, you're going to like it."

They buckled in, put headphones on, and were off. Less than thirty minutes later, they were landing in New York City on top of another building. He just shook his head as he hopped down and lifted her out. "Come on, our first stop awaits," she told him grabbing his hand.

Another short elevator ride and they were in a restaurant and given a table by the window. They ordered drinks before he said, "It's time, Mary - spill."

She smiled. "You've been very patient. I'm shocked." He just stared at her.

"Okay, so my plan for your birthday was to come here tonight for a concert. We would have driven here, eaten, gone to the concert, and driven home – late night, but hey, you only turn eighteen once, right?" He smiled. "Well, in Dugrey world, you only turn eighteen once, but you do it a little bigger," she laughed. "I told your dad my plan, and he liked the idea. He offered to help, if I wanted it. Well, duh! He and I have been texting fools."

Tristan didn't know what to say to her. It took him a minute. "A few months ago, I never would have guessed, or dared hope, that I'd be here with you today. No one has ever done anything like this for me. Thank you."

She reached for his hand. "You're welcome. Your dad and I wanted it to be perfect for you." And to lighten the mood, she told him how her mom made her stand still for hours while she made her dress for the night. She smirked, "The dress is my mom's gift to you."

"It's a hell of a dress."

They ordered dinner. Finally, she couldn't hold it in any longer. "So?! Aren't you going to ask what concert we're seeing?"

"What concert are we seeing, Rory?"

"U2!"

He laughed, "No shit. Wow."

"It's like the only music we agree on, and how ironic that they're here on your birthday. I was so excited."

"It's perfect." And it was. Dinner, front row seats at a U2 concert, and the girl he loved. Eighteen was pretty kickass.

Lorelai was feeling less than perfect the next night at Friday night dinner.

"So, here we are again," she walked up behind Ben at the drink cart.

He turned. "Nice dress. Appropriately dark." He smiled at her black dress and black boots. "Not a speck of white." She snorted. He continued, "And yes, here we are again. Here, specifically here," he said pointing to the cart, "is really the only good place to be here," he said motioning around him. "Martini?"

"Yes, please. Make it a small one so we can stand here and refill it all night and not have to talk to anyone."

"Feeling pretty social, huh?"

"We might be here a lot," she said looking at the two teenagers glued together.

"Yep. And I didn't even have to put in a bid."

"And next week there's a dance followed by a night in a hotel."

"I heard. How do you feel about that?"

"Nauseous."

"Young love."

"Yeah – great."

"Another drink?"

"God, yes."

She was feeling better on the way out after dinner. "So, everyone's even now, right?"

Ben laughed. "Yes, I think so."

"Good. Even is good." She looked at Rory, "Are you dumping me, kiddo?"

"No. It's movie night."

"Oooh - I win Pretty Boy," she told Tristan.

Tristan stared her down, "Hey Rory, want to come over and watch a movie at my house? I have a movie room."

"Wait, you have a movie room? We've been watching TV in the pool house all this time and you have a movie room?"

"Yep."

Tristan grinned at Lorelai. She flicked him off.

"Can my mom come?"

"Haha. Knew that was coming. Yeah. How about it, Lorelai?"

"Um."

"Come on, Mom."

She looked at Ben. "It just keeps getting worse. Now I'm the chaperone. You're going?"

"I do live there."

They followed them to the house. Lorelai looked at it from the driveway. "Good God. This makes mom and dad's place look like our house."

"Yep. Come on," she said dragging Lorelai towards the house. "You get used to it."

They went in through the kitchen, bypassing the entrance. "You going to change?" Tristan asked Rory.

"Yep."

"Okay, I'll go see about snacks because God forbid there are no snacks."

Rory dragged her mom up to Tristan's room. "I've got some clothes here. You can change too."

She followed Rory into his closet. Lorelai didn't know what to say. She was speechless for once, staring at Rory's ever-growing section of Tristan's closet.

"It's like you're living here."

Rory handed her jeans or yoga pants. She took the jeans and a shirt.

Lorelai tried to let it go, but just couldn't. She was standing at the back of the movie room listening to Ben talk while Rory and Tristan picked a movie, but she wasn't really listening.

"Your son has my daughter's underwear in his closet."

"What?"

"Underwear, bras, bathing suits, jeans, dresses, uniforms."

"Okay."

"She's got a whole wardrobe in there."

"Okay."

"Her underwear are sitting on a shelf in your kid's room. Stacked up."

"What do you want me to do here, Lorelai?"

"I want you to make her five again and running around the front yard in pigtails."

"Sorry."

"She doesn't even know that's weird. How does she not realize it's weird?"

"Is it weird?"

"Yes, it's weird! Her last boyfriend never even saw her underwear! On her or off her! This one has them sitting on a shelf, like it's no big deal." Her eyes were wide.

"You have to pull it together, Lorelai."

"You're right. You're right."

They put in National Treasure and watched for fifteen minutes.

She still couldn't let it go. "Can we pause it? I need more popcorn."

Ben looked in her bowl. She had popcorn.

She nodded her head toward the door.

He sighed and got up. "I'll help."

"What are we doing?" he asked, as they walked back to the kitchen.

He leaned against the counter, arms crossed over his chest, and waited.

"You know what? It's not even the physical side of it. I'm working my way up to accepting that." He gave her a 'you're full of shit' look. "I am. What bothers me is the level of intimacy. They got there so easy, so fast, and yet it doesn't seem like it was forced. What happens now? They get married at 18? Divorced at 20?"

"This is you pulling it together?"

She winced.

She looked at him. He still wore dress pants, but he had dumped the jacket and tie and had unbuttoned his collar and rolled up his sleeves.

"How do I make it stop? Running through my head."

"Me? I can compartmentalize. You? It doesn't sound like you can. So, in this situation, you trust your daughter. Yeah, he's probably seen her underwear on her and off her. Yeah, he's going to be seeing a whole lot more of her probably pretty soon. Yeah, she's going to have sex with him probably pretty soon. Yeah, they're tuned into each other. Yeah, they love each other. And if the shit hits the fan with them at some point, you help her through it. But you want her to not have that in there? For however long it works? Look how happy they are. What if it works forever?"

"Oh my God."

"What?"

"You're so much better at this than me."

"I've got more distance. It's easier to see."

"Your distance is shrinking. Get all your looking in now. Soon, it'll all be a blurry mess for you too."

He smiled. "Do we still have to make popcorn?"

"Duh."

She loosened up the rest of the movie. On the way out, she thanked him. "Really, I mean it." Then she turned to look at the teenagers. "Hey Pretty Boy, I'm tired. Think you can let go of my kid anytime soon so we can get home?"

"Can she sleep over?"

"No."

Rory laughed. "Bye Tristan, bye Ben."

A few minutes later in the car, Lorelai told her, "I like your boyfriend, Rory."

"I'm glad. Because I think he's going to be around for a while."

"Yeah, I figured."


	10. Chapter 10

"Ouch, Mom!" That was the third time Lorelai had poked her with a pin. Rory was starting to think she was doing it on purpose. Lorelai ignored her complaint, saying only, "Hold still." She had been standing there for half an hour, while Lorelai fitted the shimmery navy material around her. "I am, and you still keep poking me!" Lorelai tugged the back together tighter and pinned it. "There. I should be able to get the rest done without you." Rory admired the makings of her Homecoming dress; the navy shot through with ice blue threading was a good pick. "It feels tighter than the white one." Lorelai double checked it. "It's about the same. But you want the top snug so it doesn't droop. Strapless is pretty, but it's got to be tight." Rory shrugged, assuming she was right.

Finally at a stopping point, they settled on the couch and vegged like they normally would on a Saturday, when they didn't have to make a party dress. "Will we be seeing Tristan today? I'm assuming you don't plan on going," Lorelai gasped dramatically, "a whole day without him."

Rory threw a pillow at her. "Yes, Drama Queen. He's coming over in a little bit to study until Lane gets off work." First quarter finals were Monday and Tuesday so they had some work to do. And it was sleep over night for her and Lane, long overdue.

"Off topic, but he needs a navy suit to match you, not a tux. Do guys wear tuxes to Homecoming?"

Rory tried to think what was in his closet. "No idea, but I'll look at what he's got Monday."

Lorelai raised an eyebrow. "You mean, when you go into his closet and pick out one of the many, many articles of clothing you keep there?"

"Yes, Mom."

An hour later Tristan was looking at the dress-in-progress tossed across the chair. Unprompted, he told them he had a suit kind of like that – not as "shiny" he said, but the guy version of it. "We can match." Rory looked at Lorelai, "See, problem solved." Lorelai pointed to the threading, "Tie this color." Tristan pulled out his phone, went onto the Brooks Brothers website, picked it, showed Lorelai, and ordered it. "It'll be here Monday."

They spread out across the couch and coffee table and spent all afternoon studying for the Monday exams. Finally, he groaned and said he was done. "I can't do anymore. My brain hurts." He tossed his stuff onto the floor, stretched out on the couch, and laid his head on her lap. "Wake me up when you're done, Mary." Rory kept at it, running her hand through his hair while he slept and she tried to finish up. Lorelai walked in just as Rory was closing her last notebook. "Done?"

"Yep. Tristan gave up a little while ago," she said, her hand still in his hair. She looked down at him. "His hair is a mystery. It's so soft."

Lorelai rolled her eyes at them. "This whole situation is pretty funny. He drove you nuts when you got to Chilton. You complained about him constantly. We named him the Spawn of Satan, for God's sake. And now, here you two are, like this. Ever think you'd be sitting on our couch running your hands through his hair while he sleeps, staring at him like he's Prince Charming?"

Rory laughed. "Nope. Yet here we are."

"Yep, here we are. Wake Pretty Boy up. You guys can come to the town meeting since you're done and Lane still has a few hours of work left. I'm on snacks," she said as she headed towards the kitchen.

She stared at him, considering what her mom said. It had taken them a while to get here, but, yeah, the Spawn of Satan was her Prince Charming. She put her hand on his face and rubbed. "Time to wake up, Dugrey." He looked up at her. "Hi," she said as she ran her finger over his lips. He sat up and put his hand in her hair, pulling her mouth to his. "Hi," he told her when he finally let her go.

"You're in luck. We studied so efficiently that now we have time to go to the town meeting." He laughed. He also knew enough about Stars Hollow to just go with it and followed the Gilmores out the door.

The building they'd practiced for the play was also apparently the place where town meetings were held. He sat between Rory and Lorelai and wasn't at all surprised when Lorelai pulled popcorn, twizzlers, and other crap out of her purse. Luke slid in next to Lorelai.

He leaned over to Rory, "How long are we going to be here? Your mom has enough food to last days."

"It depends."

"On what?"

"What Taylor has on the agenda. There's nothing involving us this time, so we're here solely for the entertainment."

"Is there often stuff about you two on the agenda?"

"Have you met my mom?"

"Right."

Patty banged the gavel. Taylor took over. And off they went. Slowly. Until Taylor made a motion to paint all buildings on Main Street a pastel color, and Luke went ballistic. Lorelai and Rory voted against that.

"You get to vote?"

"Until someone complains. And Luke doesn't want a pink building."

"No kidding."

Later that night, long after Tristan had left and Rory, Lane, and Lorelai had watched hours of Ab Fab, Rory and Lane were sitting on her bed talking. Lane described her most recent date to the high school hockey game with the Korean guy Mrs. Kim had found at bible study. "He shook my hand when we got back to my house. And then turned around and walked away. Without saying anything!" Lane's dates, as set up by Mrs. Kim, made for good stories. "Enough about me and my pathetic dating life. On to you and your non-pathetic dating life."

Rory smiled, "What do you want to know?"

"Tell. Me. Everything! I need to live vicariously through you."

"Well, it's good. Tristan is great."

"You suck. That's not everything! First date was the movies. Tell me about it."

She talked for a while about how they got together, giving her some, but not all, of the details. Some things were just for her and Tristan. Lane wanted to know about naked Tristan, wagging her eyebrows. Rory laughed, knowing Lane was expecting her to say she hadn't seen Tristan naked, and told her naked Tristan was something to behold. Lane's mouth dropped open. Knowing Tristan wasn't shy about his body, she told her, "He's got these muscles. His arms. His chest. His abs. His stomach cuts to that V you see in magazines or on tv. Amazing." Lane blinked, "And you've seen the rest?" Rory smiled. "Yeah. Like I said, amazing."

The rest of the weekend and test days flew by. And on Wednesday, when they got their report cards at the end of the day, Rory glanced at hers fast and then looked at Tristan, biting her lip nervously, waiting for him to make some noise. After a few seconds, she lost her patience, "Well?"

He kept his face even and handed it to her. She looked at it and let out a whoop. Straight As. She dropped her backpack and flung herself at him. "You did it!" He smiled down at her, "We did it." She dug for her phone. "Here, hold it," she pushed the report card back at him. She snapped his picture with his report card. "Can I send it to Ben? Or do you want to tell him?" Tristan laughed. "Go ahead. If it comes from you, he'll be less likely to think I had it altered before giving it to him." She looked up at him from her typing, "Did you do that once?" Tristan looked away and whistled. "Tristan!"

She texted Ben the picture, with the note "Bam!"

Grabbing his hand as they walked out of the school, she told him, "I'm so proud of you." And it was good timing since they had to send out their college applications within the next week or so. "Maybe he'll cut you loose earlier now, you know, on account of good behavior."

Tristan looked over at her. "I hope not. Getting a babysitter has been the best thing that's ever happened to me." He was smiling but squeezed her hand and told her he was serious, "I mean it. You are the best thing that's ever happened to me."

She thought back. "I was so pissed you were leaving. Because I'd just started to realize I liked you."

"Well now you have me." His phone beeped. His dad, congratulating him and telling him he was proud of him. He smiled.

Rory's phone beeped next. Ben telling her she had his unending gratitude. She smiled.

They were sitting in his kitchen a little while later when Rory batted her eyelashes at Tristan. "So, tomorrow's my birthday."

"You don't say."

"I do say."

"Have anything to tell me?"

"Nope."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Mean."

He smirked at her, "Payback is a bitch, Mary."

Grace laughed at the exchange. She was making spaghetti and meatballs, one of Tristan's favorites, because Ben had called and asked her to. "I have to say, Tristan," she teased, "I never thought I'd be making a celebratory dinner for you getting straight As. Maybe one day for you graduating high school without being expelled. But for good grades – never!"

Tristan grinned fast. "There's still time for expulsion."

Rory smacked him. "This just proves he's been lazy all along. Now that my dork ways have rubbed off on him, he's going to get straight As every time."

With Grace stirring sauce at the stove and her back to them, Tristan leaned over and whispered to Rory, "We should go up to my room and let your dork ways rub off on me a little more, now." When his mouth closed over her earlobe, Rory bit back a moan.

Tristan told Grace they'd see her at dinner. She looked at him narrow eyed, not nearly as oblivious as he thought she was. "Your dad is coming home early. We're eating in an hour," she warned. He gave her a thumbs up and took Rory by the hand.

He pulled Rory up the back stairs, through the hall, and into his room, locking the door behind him. She turned to look at him, smiling. "What now?" she asked. He moved towards her. "Now, we make out. Consider it an exploratory free for all," he said pulling her to him and leaving his mouth hovering just over hers, "where you can touch whatever you want." He closed his mouth over hers and kissed her until she reached out to hold onto his forearms. "You good with that, Mary?" he asked as he started kissing down her neck. "Ugh, yeah," is all she got out.

He walked them backwards to his bed. When the back of her knees hit the bed, he reached down and put his hands on her thighs moving under her skirt and onto her ass, lifting her so she wrapped her legs around him as he crawled them up the bed. She ran her hands over his stomach and up his chest, and he mimicked her move, kissing her the entire time. She moaned and let her head fall back on the pillow when she felt his hands move over her chest. His mouth was on her neck again as he unbuttoned the first few buttons of her shirt. When he licked his way down to her cleavage, she tugged on his shirt to pull it out of his pants. She dragged her hands under his shirt, across his abs, up his chest, and back down to his abs. He moved his mouth back to hers as he untucked her shirt and slid his hands up to cup her breasts through her bra. Her head fell back again and she held onto the top of his pants and his belt. She tentatively moved one of her hands down over the front of his pants and felt him lean into her hand. She rubbed back and forth a little, encouraged when he made an unintelligible sound. She slid her other hand down the back of his pants, under his boxers to squeeze his butt. He ran his hands back down her stomach and over her skirt to her thighs before pushing back up under her skirt, bringing his hands up, barely skimming over the front of her thong. He moved his thumbs back and forth, before moving his hands outward slightly so his thumbs could slide just barely under the silky material. Her moan brought him back to her mouth. He bit her lip when he felt her undo his belt and button and groaned when her hand slid over him as she unzipped his pants. Her heart was pounding as she gently ran her hand over the length of him, feeling the smooth hard skin. He groaned when she closed her fingers around him. "God, Rory." He moved his thumbs further inward and further into her thong, meeting in the middle and running up and down. "Oh my God, Tristan."

And then they heard the intercom buzz with Grace's cheery voice, "Dinnertime in five minutes, kids!"

Tristan dropped his head onto her chest. "I hate people." Rory's laugh was a little rusty from her heavy breathing. They both slowly pulled their hands back. "I guess the exploration is halted for now," Rory quipped. Tristan groaned and laughed at the same time.

They ate in the kitchen around the island, with Grace, Rory and Ben all teasing Tristan about his newfound success in school. Tristan was a good sport, accepting all the razzing. And Ben, after telling Tristan how proud he was and how he knew he could do it, ended Tristan's punishment early, as Rory predicted. "I have a feeling your life won't change much because Rory will still be on your ass about school, but, in any event, you're free again."

Tristan and Rory smiled at each other when Tristan told her, "You were the best babysitter ever." Grace burst out laughing and Ben rolled his eyes.

As Rory was gathering her stuff up, she tossed Ben the car keys to her car. "Thanks for letting me use it," she smiled at him before turning to Tristan and wagging her eyebrows, "Give me a ride home, Dugrey?"

Ben looked at the keys in his hand. "What do you mean, Rory?"

She looked at him oddly. "The car was a loaner while I was on babysitting duty, but I'm done. He's all grown up now."

Ben started, "Keep the car." She shook her head. "Rory, I have no use for this car. I bought it for you." When she didn't budge, he inclined his head toward his office. She looked at Tristan, shrugged, and followed Ben into the room. "I'm not sure you understand what you've done for me, Rory. What you've done for me and Tristan. We were about to have a hard break, one we might not have recovered from if I'd sent him to military school. Instead, I can talk to my son every day, eat dinner with him, laugh with him. My son, who is now, largely because of you, the happiest I've ever seen him. Keep the car." When she opened her mouth, he said, "Keep it at least until next fall when you guys decide if you're taking cars to college or not. Then we'll figure it out."

She stared at her hands. "Okay. But two things. One, you made the effort and Tristan knows it. And two, you're going to have to deal with my mom about the car and that'll be a battle." She smiled at him, grabbed the keys, and walked out.


	11. Chapter 11

She crawled into bed that night and let her mind wander back. To images of them together, the feel of his hands on her, the feel of her hands on him. She felt her cheeks burn even though she was alone in the dark, and hid her face in her pillow, smiling.

She thought back to Tristan walking her out to her car after her talk with Ben.

 _"_ _I'm glad you're keeping it," he told her. "It's safer for you."_

 _She snorted. "Snob. The bus is fine." Eye roll. "But I'm glad too. And it'll be less work for you because I'm guessing you would have felt obligated to cart me around."_

 _They stopped by her door. He pulled her to him, resting his hands on her hips. "It's not exactly obligation I feel when I'm with you, Mary." He leaned down and ran his mouth over her neck, up to her ear, whispering, "It's more like want. Overwhelming want and need."_

 _She shivered, running her hand over his neck and into his hair, "I liked tonight," she whispered back._

 _"_ _Yeah? What about it?"_

 _"_ _Being with you. It's all new to me, but I liked it."_

 _"_ _I liked it too. Being with you." He dragged his mouth to hers, biting her top lip. "Touching you." Biting her bottom lip. "Being touched by you." She grabbed onto his shirt for balance. "You hanging in there with me, Mary?"_

 _She moaned, "Barely. You make me lose my mind."_

She pulled the covers up further and let herself drift.

Hours later, he set the bakery bag, the coffee carrier, and his dad's gift to her on the kitchen table and quietly walked over to her room. He could just make out her shape in the dark and set a cup of coffee and her gift from him on her nightstand before sitting down on the edge of the bed. He smiled, watching her sleep, and reached out to brush her hair away from her face. She stretched a little and opened her eyes, smiling sleepily up at him. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

"It's your birthday, Mary." He leaned down to kiss her. "Happy birthday," he told her as she pulled him down. "It's still dark, come in here," she told him as she pulled the covers back for him to climb in.

He resisted and told her, "It's later than you think. Breakfast is in the kitchen, and I'm pretty sure your mom will be down soon." She pouted and took the coffee he handed her. He leaned down again and whispered to her, "There's nothing I want to do more than climb into that bed with you." She moaned. He slid his hand under the covers and found her bare leg, running it up her thigh. He took her coffee from her with his other hand and set it down, while his hand settled over her thong. Her eyes fluttered shut. "I like sleepy, sexy Rory." She bit her lip when he slid his hand into her underwear and ran his finger across her and, a minute later, into her. She gasped and arched her back slightly, lifting her hips to get more, and bit her lip harder when he changed the angle. She flew over the edge, shaking from the force of her orgasm. Her birthday orgasm, she thought when her mind started working again, and laughed. At his look, she told him. She told him, in fact, her first ever orgasm. He smiled and kissed her again. "Well, that wasn't planned. I did actually get you a real gift, but you were all sleepy and sexy," he told her, adjusting his pants a little. She reached for him, trying again. "Shut my door and come in here. You should celebrate my birthday too."

He shook his head. "Nope. We are not starting your birthday with us getting caught by your mom with your hand down my pants. We will never hear the end of that."

"No, but it might be worth it," she told him sitting up. "My bed has been awfully busy this morning. You're my second visitor already." He looked at her, confused. She told him about Lorelai's birthday tradition, how she climbed into bed with Rory every year and described the morning of her birth, in great and excruciating detail. Tristan looked grossed out and then mildly concerned, finally asking, "So wait, next year when we're away at school, you're telling me Lorelai is going to climb into bed with us in the middle of the night and talk about your birth? I'm not sure how I feel about that."

Rory laughed. "Maybe we can get her to just call me at 4:43 a.m." He looked relieved. And she couldn't help but tease him. "You're pretty sure we're going to be together this time next year, at the same school, and in the same bed?"

He looked at her steadily. "I'm not pretty sure; I'm positive." He reached over to grab her gift and handed it to her. She looked at it, wondering at the connection. She held the small box with both hands and started unwrapping it. Her eyebrows drew together when she saw the Harry Winston box. She looked up, "Tristan." He made a motion with his hand, "Open it." She took a breath and opened it and breathed out when she saw the ring. She looked up at him again and back down at the sapphire and diamond band. He told her, "It's an eternity band." She smiled, "Everlasting love." He nodded. "It made me think of you."

"It's beautiful, Tristan." And it was. Alternating sapphires and diamonds around the entire band, sparkling like mad. "But it's so much. You can't give me this!"

He took the box from her and pulled the ring out. "I can give it to you. I am giving it to you. Because I love you." He slid it on her ring finger on her right hand. She closed her hand around the ring and reached up to kiss him. She kept her mouth just barely on his and looked into his eyes, "Thank you. I love it. I love you."

He cupped her cheek before running his hand into her hair and kissing her again. Leaving his forehead resting on hers, he held her left hand. "It's the first thing I've bought, using my trust. It's one of the most important things I'll ever buy." He rubbed the ring finger of the hand he held. "One day, in a few years, we'll move it here."

Her heart stopped. And then started back up twice as fast. "You bought me my wedding band." He smiled at her, "Keep it safe until we need it, Mary."

They sat together in comfortable silence until they heard Lorelai moving around the kitchen. "Oh children, time to come out for breakfast." She walked towards the half-opened door. "Please tell me everyone is clothed."

Rory laughed, "Yes, Mom. Come in." Lorelai stood at the doorway and studied them. "Come on. Pretty Boy brought food."

Rory grabbed pajama pants and they walked into the kitchen together, Rory sipping her coffee. She laughed when she saw the carrier with four more cups. "Came prepared, I see."

She dug in the bag and pulled out a box of the prettiest pastries she'd ever seen. She was peering into the clear top when she heard Lorelai screech, "Holy shit."

Looking up, she saw her mom focused on her hand. "Birthday present," she told Lorelai.

Not wanting Lorelai to go off the rails so early, Tristan grabbed his dad's gift for Rory and gave it to her. "From my dad."

Rory teased, "The Dugrey guys are very prompt in their gift giving." She opened the card attached to the box and smiled as she read it.

 _Happy birthday to a remarkable person. Best – Ben_

She pulled off the wrapping paper and saw another Harry Winston box. She raised her eyebrow at Tristan. "You shopped together?"

"Maybe."

She opened it and ran her finger over the smooth pearl earrings. Simple. Beautiful. "Wow, they're perfect." Her mom admired them. Rory fired off a text to Ben thanking him.

After seeing Rory and Tristan off to school, Lorelai sent her own text to Ben.

"You and your spawn are INSANE."

"Good morning Lorelai. What now?"

"Harry Winston?"

"Something wrong with HW?"

"Teenage boys don't give their teenage girlfriends five carat rings from Harry Winston."

"Remember our talk?"

"Ugh. Yes. It's beautiful. The earrings are beautiful. Both things she'll have forever. But come on – insane."

"It's a hell of a ring. I'll give you that."

"Please tell me it's insured."

"It is."

Rory found herself standing behind two younger guys in the cafeteria that day and listening to their conversation. They caught her attention because they made her think of young Tristans. Maybe sophomores. Cute. Arrogant. Players in the making, she mused. One was razzing the other about a girl. He actually used the phrase, tag her and bag her. Rory grimaced. The one being razzed told him this girl wasn't like that. Awe, Rory thought. He likes her. Maybe this one had a chance at not growing up into an asshole. She listened for another minute before tapping them on the shoulders. "Hi. I'm Rory."

They looked back at her. They'd seen her around, knew she was a senior. Pretty. The non-asshole said, "Um, hi. I'm Alex." He nodded to the asshole, "Scott."

Rory smiled at them. "I heard your conversation. Are you taking Sarah to the dance tomorrow?"

Alex paled. "No."

"Why not?"

Scott piped in, "Because Sarah won't put out so he'll end up asking Ashley because she," and was cut off when Alex shoved him.

Rory rolled her eyes and grabbed both of their arms. "Come on, you two need help more than you need food." She dragged them through the crowd towards the table she was sitting at with Tristan and his idiot friends. As they approached and realized where she was dragging them, they pulled back. "Rory, stop. We can't go over there." She looked puzzled, "Why not?" They looked at her like she was crazy. "That's Dugrey and his friends." Rory nodded her head, "Yeah, so?" They stared at her, wondering if they really needed to explain to her how the pecking order worked. "We're sophomores." She rolled her eyes and tightened her grips to drag them the rest of the way.

Tristan watched her approach, amused at the expression on the faces of the two younger guys. She pulled them to a stop by the table. "This is Alex, and this is Scott," she said pointing to each. She pointed around the table, "Tristan, Bowman, Duncan, Jason, Kyle." She looked around, "Why are there no other girls at this table? There were girls five minutes ago." Kyle laughed, "Bowman pissed them off." Easily accepting that, Rory steamrolled on.

"I'm doing my good deed for the day. Alex likes Sarah. Sarah sounds like a nice girl. Scott is giving him shit for liking a nice girl. Alex isn't taking Sarah to Homecoming because, well, she's a nice girl. Any wisdom for these two, guys?"

Before the peanut gallery could speak, Tristan pointed to Scott. "You, go talk to them," he said pointing to Bowman, Duncan, Jason, and Kyle. Pointing to the seat across from him, he said, "Sit down, Alex." Rory smiled at Tristan, glad that he got it. "I'll be right back," she told them. She really was hungry and grabbed three bags of chips. She walked back and tossed one to Scott, one to Alex, and sat down next to Tristan to eat hers while she dug around her backpack. Alex looked at the chips, and back at Tristan and Rory, obviously intimidated.

Tristan told him, "I was you guys two years ago. Maybe I was more you than him, although I didn't find my Sarah until later." Alex looked confused. "Rory is my Sarah." Alex studied them. He'd heard Dugrey had a girlfriend. He assumed it was one of the party girls. Not the girl plowing through a bag of chips and holding a book. Tristan continued, "She's the girl that was different from all of the other girls here. She's the one who wasn't impressed with all my bullshit, who turned me down repeatedly, who made me work to get her attention. My friends," he said pointing to the guys that were entertaining Scott with what he was sure was terrible advice, "are fine, but it would have been a very bad thing if I had let them sway me from going after Rory because she was different. I don't know you, and I don't know Sarah. But I do know you might be missing out on something good."

Rory looked up from her book, "Good?" Tristan smirked at her, took her hand, and played with her ring. He tried again, "Better than good?" She rolled her eyes, "Your vocabulary is astounding." To Alex, she said, "Do you want to take Sarah to the dance?"

"Yeah."

"Is she going with someone else?"

"I don't think so."

"Then why not ask her? What's the harm? She says no, fine. I told him," she nudged Tristan, "no lots of times. Maybe she says yes. Maybe the dance goes really well, and you guys realize you like each other when the night's over. Maybe, as Scott so charmingly told me, she won't put out." She paused, looking between Tristan and Alex, "Do tenth graders really have sex, or expect sex, after a dance?" Alex at least had the grace to blush; Tristan just smirked at her again. "That's ridiculous. Now I sound like my mom. Okay, well, whatever, but the point is, however it ends, at least you tried."

Alex, still acutely aware of where he was and that others around the cafeteria were watching, just nodded. "Yeah, okay."

Rory, oblivious to the eyes of others, pushed him, "Are you going to ask her? Because you have to do it soon. You're not giving her much time to get a dress and stuff – one day!"

Tristan told him, "She's pushy." And caught her elbow when it came at him, holding her close to him.

"Yeah, I'll ask her today."

"As Dugrey here would say, good!" She reached across the table, "Give me your phone." He handed it to her, a little weary. She programmed in her number and then, muttering under her breath, but loud enough for them to hear, "Player probably has better advice," programmed in Tristan's too. "Let us know how it goes. And come talk to us at the dance if you see us."

Alex was still reeling from the last fifteen minutes of his life. He told them, standing up as the bell rang, "Okay, um, thanks, guys."

Tristan laughed and, handing Rory what was left of his sandwich, told Alex, "Oddest lunch you've had in a while, right? Bunch of unsolicited advice. From two strangers. But really, let us know what she says. Good luck." Alex watched them walk off, hearing Rory tell him that their plans that night better involve large quantities of food.

Tristan teased her as they walked down the hall towards their next class, holding hands. "Are we on a mission to end all meaningless hookups? Because, I have to say, I don't think that message is going to be all that well received."

She laughed. "No, players gotta play. I know, I listened to Bowman." He laughed, too. "But this guy reminded me of you, and I wanted him to have a shot at the girl he liked even though his friend is an asshole." He squeezed her hand.

He took her to a carnival that night, one widely recognized as the biggest and best one around. It happened to be in the next city over, and Lorelai assured him Rory would love it. She did. She ate her way through the food trucks, he won her a stuffed animal, and they rode the cheeseball rides. It was the perfect way for her and her boyfriend to spend her eighteenth birthday.


	12. Chapter 12

Lorelai snapped one last picture of them. They were amazingly pretty. Both of them. Rory's dress fit her like a glove, and the ice blue threading popped her eyes. Her hair had cooperated and was up in a loose side bun. And Tristan's navy suit did indeed match her dress. Comically, Tristan's ice blue tie popped his eyes. They belonged in a magazine spread.

Finally, she relented, "Okay, kiddos. Off you go. Have fun." She hugged Rory. "Be safe."

Rory waved as she climbed into Tristan's Range Rover. "You look hot, Dugrey. Like really hot." She used to mock him for his hotness, she mused. But he was, outrageously so. And knowing him, the real him and not the cocky ass, and loving him, only made him hotter.

He laughed and shook his head. "I'm going to get lost in the shuffle when people see you, Mary. You're beautiful. Like really beautiful." It was true. Looking at her made his heart hurt sometimes, his chest got tight and he had trouble breathing. He'd tried to explain it to his dad the other day, but his dad had never been in love, and Tristan couldn't find the right words to describe it.

"I feel like I should warn you." He looked over at her as he drove. "I'm a terrible dancer."

"How is that possible?"

"Don't know," she shrugged. "I just am. Can't relax into it."

He grinned at her and took her hand. "You've never danced with me. We're going to change that tonight." She squeezed his hand and told him he was full of himself. Really, though, she'd happily stay wrapped up in him all night to practice.

Lorelai sent Ben a couple of pictures. "Took some with the camera too. Will send copies with Rory next week."

He texted back fast. "Thanks. They look great."

"They really do. We made pretty kids." Then, "Well, separately we made pretty kids. You know what I meant."

"It'd be a real problem if we made them. Did you eat yet?"

"Rory and I ate at 4 before dance prep began. I'm ready to eat again. Meet somewhere halfway?"

He named a place.

"I'm in jeans - do I have to change?"

"No."

"Can I wear my penis shirt?"

"No."

"Mean."

"Save it for Thanksgiving."

"Did I tune out at dinner last week? Are we having Thanksgiving together?"

"No - kids doing double duty."

"Suckers - on my way."

"Me too."

She was surprised to walk into a pub-like restaurant. A nice mix between casual and swanky. "Dugrey," she told the hostess.

"Color me surprised," she told him when she was led to his table.

He looked up at her, studying her in jeans and t-shirt. "What?"

"This doesn't look stuffy at all."

"I'm flattered."

"Rory and I ate at a place called Al's Pancake House today, so this is a step up."

"And?"

She took a sip of the water in front of her. "Al doesn't sell pancakes. It's Italian. The manicotti is blue."

"You lead an interesting life."

She snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure. Coming from the guy who spent the last two decades traveling the world."

"For work. Traveling for work. It's not what you're picturing, believe me."

"Hmm."

"And, until two years ago, I was married. Technically."

Interested, she tilted her head. "What does technically mean?"

"We were done long ag but didn't get divorced until two years ago. But married is married, so..."

"And since then?"

"What?"

"Have you dated? Found your long-lost love?"

"I've been out a few times."

She wrinkled her nose. "I thought being a billionaire was supposed to be fun. It doesn't sound so fun."

He laughed. "I'm not a billionaire. Maybe they have more fun."

"So, I guess you should work harder, to become a billionaire, to test that theory out. How old are you?"

He grimaced. "40."

"Okay, so not a billionaire AND old? No wonder you can't hook up with anyone."

He grinned.

"What about you? Boyfriend?"

"Nope. I've dated some." She thought of Jason, Max.

"You call that fun?"

"Touche, Dugrey. Oooh - that rhymed! Kind of."

"You've got a reputation for being a rebel."

"Yeah, the knocked up at 16 and runaway thing will do that."

"Tell me."

"About how I got knocked up?"

"I can piece that together." She laughed and paused when the waitress came over to take their order.

"Yeah, so Chris and I were dating, as sixteen year old kids date. We escaped one of my parents' interminable parties one night, onto the balcony of my bedroom, and apparently used a faulty condom. I freaked when I realized I was pregnant. Chris did too. I wasn't sure what to do. So I waited almost three months before I told my parents. That confession resulted in a lot of yelling at my house and our parents getting together and planning our wedding. Chris was willing to do whatever I wanted. I didn't want to get married. I fought it, delayed as best I could, and finally, when I was about seven months pregnant and the parents were getting restless, I took off. Packed up some clothes, took as much money as I could get my hands on around the house, which was only a couple hundred bucks, and hopped on a bus. It was scary, so I didn't make it far. I made it to Stars Hollow. I met a woman - Mia - in town that first day. She offered me a job cleaning at her inn and a place to stay. She gave me a room in the inn and, a few days later, a little tiny cottage." She laughed. "Cottage is a very generous term. It was actually an old potting shed. But I cleaned it out, got some basics, a bed, some sheets. I told my parents where I was. That ended badly but they offered to help. I was too stubborn to accept it. I worked until Rory came. I wasn't even seventeen when she was born. And then I worked, carting her around. We wouldn't have made it without Mia. I cleaned for a year or two, and then Mia promoted me. Eventually, when Rory was about six, Mia retired and turned the inn over to me to run. I was good at it. A year or so after that, I'd saved enough to buy our house. So that's where we are now. We saw Christopher every once in a while, but he had become estranged from his family and he was struggling. We saw my parents on holidays. The people in Stars Hollow became our family. I worked at the inn until it burned down about two years ago. It was the impetus I needed, me and my best friend Sookie, to open our own inn. We'd been talking about it for years. So we dumped everything we had, and some we didn't, into the Dragonfly. It's done and it's amazing. But, when we were struggling to get it renovated, because everything - and I mean every damn thing - goes over budget, Rory got into Chilton. And Chilton wanted a huge amount of money upfront. They wouldn't let me make payments. I couldn't get it done. And Rory needed to go. She's too smart; she needed her shot. So, finally, I had to swallow my pride, and go ask my parents for the tuition. They agreed, but hooked us into our Friday night dinners. They pay for Chilton and we go to dinner every Friday night. Now, I've got a little breathing room, and could probably - well maybe - swing Chilton, but my parents, we've gotten a little better at being together, and Rory enjoys it. So, here we are."

He stared at her, mesmerized. "That's incredible. Even though you gave me facts and glossed over how hard - nearly impossible - that all must have been. You deserve your reputation. And I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For telling you to pull it together the other night. Clearly, you can pull it together. All on your own."

"I've had a lot of help along the way. I'm not kidding about our town. You need help, you get help."

They ate and, as she was finishing hers up, she pointed at him. "Okay, you're up. Spill. And more than, I was married until two years ago."

"Mine sounds weak compared to yours."

"Dugrey."

"Okay. I was Tristan in high school. Tristan, minus Rory. Dad running the family company, mom off doing other things, and me running wild. Got through high school, got into Yale, had a lot of fun at Yale. My parents laid down the law in my senior year. It was time to grow up. I was given an internship at DG and introduced to prospective wives. I met Carolyn at some Hartford party. Our parents introduced us. Her family was old Hartford - banking. She went to Brown. She was pretty - Tristan has her blonde hair." Lorelai smiled. "She was the only one of the women my parents paraded in front of me that I could stand to be around for more than five minutes. So we dated. And when I graduated, I didn't propose like everyone expected. I don't think Carolyn really cared, but our parents did. By August, I was at DG and our families were relentless about marriage. We were young and dumb, so we gave in. I proposed, we got married a few months later, and Tristan was born not long after that. I'm not sure we were ever in the same place again long enough to have another kid. I worked long hours, was gone on business trips for weeks on end. Carolyn wasn't a giant fan of motherhood, so we got a nanny. I could hardly complain since I wasn't home to help. I was moving up the ranks. When Tristan hit middle school, we got Grace. Things leveled out some with Grace. She's hung in there for Tristan more than any of us. My dad retired around the time Tristan hit high school, so I took over. And was home even less than before. Carolyn asked for a divorce about that time too. I didn't even blink. I agreed and it was done in a matter of weeks. She wanted out, and she left. Tristan went a little wild, nothing major, culminating with the night we met. And here we are."

"Those are facts, too. Do you miss her?"

"No. I didn't really know her."

"Did you love her?"

"No. Isn't that awful?"

"No."

"Did you love Chris?"

"No. I thought I did back then, but, looking back, I know I didn't."

"Which is why you question Tristan and Rory. You think they're caught in the moment."

"Maybe."

"Not maybe."

"Okay. I did. Now I'm not sure. Is this a date?"

"Do you want it to be a date?"

"I'm not sure."

"When do you think you might know?"

"You live in the world I ran away from."

"I do."

"You run a big company and have a lot of responsibility."

"I do."

"You're probably on some list for Hartford's most eligible bachelors."

"No idea."

"My parents like you."

"Okay."

"Our kids are dating."

"They are. Are all of these things deal breakers for going on a date?"

"They might be. I'm not sure."

"Back to my earlier question, when do you think you might know?"

"I'll let you know when I know."

He opened his mouth to talk but was interrupted when both of their phones beeped at the same time. "Ha, jinx," Lorelai said. He dug in his pocket, and she dug in her purse. "Oh my God!"

Rory sent the picture to a group text with her, Tristan, Lorelai, and Ben. She couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it. Tristan being Homecoming King. Sure, that was a definite possibility. A probability, even. Her being Homecoming Queen. Not even in the realm of possibilities. Yet, they'd been crowned and photographed, and had danced the traditional King and Queen dance.

"It's a good thing we practiced earlier," he'd teased her, as they danced in the center of a room full of people watching them. He was right, she'd relaxed into him, one arm around his neck playing with his hair, and her other hand resting on his chest, diamonds and sapphires shooting sparks around them. She'd smiled at him and admitted, "I hadn't given the whole King and Queen thing any thought, mostly because I didn't care about it, but I wouldn't have liked watching someone else being crowned your Queen. Watching someone else dance with you. So I'm glad it's me." He'd brought his hand up to her face as they danced, wholly focused on her, "It's always going to be you, Rory." He kissed her slowly as the song ended. There'd been silence, until the DJ broke it, congratulating the King and Queen who, as he said much to the crowd's amusement, "really seemed to like each other." He pumped out some fast music and the Chilton crowd flooded the dance floor.

Rory wouldn't have been surprised at some of the chatter during their official dance. But she would have been surprised at the support she got from some unlikely sources. Bowman and Duncan stood with their dates, alongside of Jason and his date Summer. Jason, as Rory learned firsthand, was looking to score at Homecoming, which was probably why he asked one of the girls known to be a sure thing. Unfortunately for Jason, Summer was seething watching Tristan and Rory and doing little to hide it. Finally, she came out and said it, "That should be me. Not some nerd who always has her face in a book." Duncan rolled his eyes, "Well, there was a vote. She won." Summer glared at him, "Yeah, because she's his flavor of the week." Bowman looked at her, "When's the last time you saw him with another girl? Because it's been all Rory, all the time for a while now." Now it was Summer rolling her eyes, "Probably because the prude won't let him close the deal so he's stuck." Now Bowman was laughing, "I think Tristan is pretty happy right now," he said, nodding towards the couple on the dance floor, "but I know it's hard to see with all the bling on her hand blinding us. That, Summer, is official bling, not flavor of the week bling. And that," he told her pointing as Tristan moved his hand to Rory's face and leaned down to kiss her, "is Rory winning more than Homecoming Queen."

Even now, an hour after their coronation, Rory was still a little shocked and waited for her mom's response to the text and picture she'd just sent. Tristan told her, "Your mom is going to love this. Think how much she's going to mock us."

Rory smiled, "Yeah. This will be hours of entertainment for her." She glanced down at her phone when it beeped back. Her mom. "This is a dream come true! Go boss someone around, Queenie!" His dad. "They must have heard about the straight As." Then, a selfie of Ben and Lorelai together.

"Um, Tristan. Why are our parents together?" She showed him.

He looked at it. "Not sure. Little weird."

"They're cute together. They look like an older version of us. That's probably what we'll look like in 20 years."

He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to him. "I'll take it." He was just about to lean down and kiss her when he saw movement behind her. "Hey guys."

Rory turned around and saw Alex and a girl she assumed was Sarah. "Hi Alex."

Alex smiled nervously. "Hey, so this is Sarah. Sarah, this is Rory and Tristan." Alex and Sarah congratulated them on their big victory. Rory snorted. "Dugrey here should be King, it suits his oversized ego. I'm surprised more than five people here know who I am." Sarah smiled shyly and told them she didn't know many people either. They talked for a few minutes, Rory liking Sarah, before they were joined by some of their friends. Rory introduced Sarah to Paris, Louise, and Madeline. And the guys all gave Alex a knowing slap on the back.

Sarah excused herself to go to the restroom. Alex turned to Tristan and Rory. "Where the hell am I going to take her after this ends? I've been racking my brain for something that sounds innocent. All I can think of is dessert. I've never had to put this much thought into dating."

Rory smiled at him. "Dessert is perfect. Do that." She looked at Tristan. "Come on, Dugrey. I know you've got skills. Got any advice?"

He stared at her. "Fine." He looked at Alex. "Hold her hand on the way out of here. Talk to her at the restaurant. Listen. Don't make any other move. Kiss her before you get back in the car to drive her home." He grimaced. "Easy kiss, not eat her alive kiss. Maybe again when you drop her off, if first one went okay. Call her tomorrow."

Alex and Rory stared at him. Finally, Rory said, "Wow, that's quite a strategy." Alex smiled, "Yeah, okay. And if it fails, I can blame the King." He bounced back, grinning, when Tristan went to smack him.

The seniors were bailing on the dance, so Tristan and Rory said good night to Alex and Sarah. Rory hugged them both, and Tristan hugged Sarah and fist bumped Alex. Rory mouthed good luck to Alex as Tristan pulled her away.

As they were all walking out, Rory asked around, "Is there going to be food where we're going? I'm starving." Tristan shook his head, "Of course you are. We can get room service."


	13. Chapter 13

Tristan and Rory stopped in the hotel restaurant on the way up to the Homecoming suite to order room service. The thought of food put a bounce in Rory's step, and she was smiling as they walked into the suite. "Did you see that cake? All those layers of chocolate? Maybe we should have ordered two pieces of it." He had his hand on her back, listening to her ramble. "It's all yours, Mary." She raised her eyebrow at him, "Are you sure? Because last time you said that, you ended up eating half of it. And then we ran out of time and couldn't get more." He pushed her into the main room of the suite, "It was my birthday. Silly me for taking a few bites of cake." Rory looked around the penthouse suite - of course, she thought, the Chilton crowd got the penthouse suite – before she responded, "That's why we should have ordered two pieces. We're never going to be that couple who shares a plate of food." He teased her, "Got it, Mary. No sharing food. I'll remember that when I catch you looking at my plate."

She leaned in to him and whispered, "Who the hell are all of these people? Do you know them?"

"Some of them."

"My mom would be happy with the quantity of people here."

Tristan laughed. And pointed to all the doors off the main room. "Lots of bedrooms, too."

"Okay, she'd be a little less happy with that part of it."

He pulled her closer to him. "We can't sleep here anyways, Mary. You're not going to be comfortable in this big of a crowd, and we're going to be in the spotlight, especially now, with people watching what we're doing. We'll hang out here for a while and then go back to my house. That work?"

She nodded. "I like your bed best anyways." He groaned.

They mingled and found themselves on the couch talking to people they did know. Rory was comfortable tucked into Tristan's side and enjoying the stories from the night. She laughed out loud when Louise congratulated Paris for finding a date that wasn't her cousin. And snorted when Paris, a little drunk and more than a little miffed that her date took off after the dance, told Louise to go fuck herself. Rory sprung up like a pogo stick when she heard someone yell "Dugrey - room service."

Madeline stared, "I've never seen her move that fast."

Tristan laughed, "Food gets her going," and shook his head when he saw her talking animatedly to the server as he pushed the cart towards the couch. He stood and reached for his wallet, "I'm guessing more cake will be arriving?" Rory nodded, as Tristan handed him more money. "Thanks, man." He looked at Rory, "What?" she asked and told him, "You know we weren't going to have enough cake. You'll take a bite, and then another one, and then, before we know it, we're out of cake."

She grabbed her plate and sat back on the couch, and he did the same. She inhaled her cheeseburger and fries, only half listening to the conversation around her. Duncan watched in semi-disgust, "Geez, Gilmore. When's the last time you ate?"

"I ate dinner before we left. Blue manicotti."

Tristan bit his lip trying not to laugh, failing. She elbowed him. "Finish up, Dugrey. We have cake to eat."

They watched on as the group got drunker and drunker. They did not drink, knowing they were leaving later. At one point, someone started a contest to see who could do the best Tristan and Rory as King and Queen on the dance floor. The reenactments were amped up versions of the real deal, with a lot of groping and wet kisses. Tristan and Rory loved it. And Paris, who loosened up considerably as she drank, was going to be mortified the next day when she realized she partnered with Bowman. Their portrayal was very dramatic and involved Bowman picking her up, leaning her against a column in the room, and kissing down her neck. Rory was laughing so hard she couldn't catch her breath. "Laugh now, Gilmore," Paris told her from her spot wrapped around Bowman. "You won't be laughing when you realize your Chilton legacy just went from being #1 in the class to being Homecoming Queen. You can thank your boy toy for that." Rory grinned, and Tristan flicked her off. Finally, after much prodding, Tristan and Rory stood up to reenact the dance as it really happened. They danced for a few seconds before Tristan brought his hand to her face and kissed her. He changed it up a little by dipping her, which the audience of drunks liked.

The crowd started pairing off around 2:00 a.m. Tristan and Rory quietly made their exit. Rory sent another message to the group text, telling their parents they were heading home to sleep at Tristan's.

Reaching his bedroom a few minutes later, she headed towards the bathroom to undo her hair and wash off her makeup. She'd packed a bag for the night, just in case they had stayed at the hotel, so she changed into the new pajamas her mom had given her for her birthday. Pale blue silk spaghetti strap top and short shorts - sexy in a cute kind of way. She emerged to find Tristan in bed leaning against the headboard and studied him, all golden and strong in his boxers. "Still looking hot, Dugrey," she told him as she walked towards him. He took his time looking her over. "Still looking beautiful, Mary," he told her. She reached his side of the bed and climbed up so she straddled his lap. His hands immediately came to rest lightly on her hips, letting her control the pace. "Tonight was a good night," she said as she leaned in to kiss him. He agreed, "I like any night I get to claim you." He worked to stay still as she ran her hands down his chest to his abs and used them to push herself back a little so she could reach the waistband of his boxers. "Yeah, I like that, too." She tugged on his boxers and backed up his legs as she pulled them down and off. "It's my turn to claim you though," she told him as she climbed back up to straddle him again, leaving just enough space between them so she could reach down and take hold of him. They both watched as she ran her hand down his length, Tristan's breathing uneven. She wrinkled her nose, looking at her hand on him and the edges of the eternity band. "This ring is amazing and spectacular, but it's going to shred your favorite part." She lifted her hand off him and pulled the band off. He took it from her and slid it on her left hand. She smiled at him, "Show me what to do?"

His hand covered hers, showing her how to move hers. How to tighten her grip. How to run her finger over the tip. She watched his eyelids get heavy, his head lean back against the headboard, his chest rise and fall. "Rory," he moaned. She sped up when his hips started pressing forward into her. She watched her hand glide over him again and again, mesmerized when he finally erupted, spewing all over his stomach, all over her hand.

Opening his eyes, he gently squeezed her hip. "You're awfully good at that, Mary."

She smiled at him, studying their predicament. "So we go wash this off?"

"Yeah," he said, lifting her off him and setting her on her feet on the side of the bed. "And we keep it away from key parts of you."

"I do know about biology, Dugrey," she told him, rolling her eyes. She washed her hands and was drying them when he announced he was going to hop in the shower to clean off. She bit her lip watching him walk in and turn the water on, watching him stand under the spray. Ever since they first swam together, she'd had a thing for wet Tristan. And now she was looking at wet naked Tristan. She watched his arms flex as he lathered up with soap and, when he smiled at her through the glass enclosure, she lost her internal battle. She wanted in there.

Before she could change her mind, she pulled her top off, keeping her eyes on his after it was over her head. His hand stilled.

He stared at her as she reached down to slide her pajama shorts down, leaving her naked in front of him. He watched her take a step towards the shower, her eyes huge with nerves. Smiling at her, he reached to open the door and reached for her. "You're perfect, Rory." And she was, all pale skin. To calm her, he kissed her until he felt her relax. When he felt her lean into him, he ran his soapy hands all over her and followed with his mouth as the water rinsed her off. She was so lost in him touching her, and her touching him, she gasped when he lifted her up and wrapped her legs around him. She arched into him when her back hit the cold tile on the wall and moaned when his mouth closed over her breast thrust into his face. "God, Tristan. More," she pleaded. He let her slide down his body before shutting the water off. He grabbed a towel, dried her off fast and quickly dried himself, before picking her back up and carrying her over to the counter. "We're moving onto the next thing, Mary."

Eyes heavy, she looked up at him. "Hmm?"

He pulled her closer to the edge of the counter and leaned her back, moving her hands so they were behind her for support, kissing down her neck and down her chest to her stomach and down further.

Dazed, she watched him kneel down on the floor and nudge her legs open. She felt his mouth on her. "Tristan!"

She arched back, using her hands to balance, and opened her legs wider when she felt his tongue. When she felt his mouth close over her, she arched back even further and half-screamed. Panting, she opened her eyes a minute later and looked at him. "Are you kidding me? What was that?!"

He laughed. "That, Mary, was oral sex."

She closed her eyes, blushing hard. "Was I too loud? Is your dad going to come down here?"

He leaned over her and kissed her fast before smirking. "Rory, I can one hundred percent guarantee you that my dad is not coming anywhere near this room tonight. No matter how much you scream."

She buried her face in her hands. "Oh God. How am I going to look him in the eye?"

He pulled her hands down and studied her before leaning over again to bite her lip gently. "It wasn't that loud. I promise."

She smiled at him. "So, oral sex, huh?"

He smirked. "Yeah. Like it?"

"Yes! But I can't believe that just happened. That's really…what's the word? Intimate? I mean your mouth, your tongue was …"

"On you. In you."

She hid her head in his shoulder. "I can't imagine letting anyone else do that. It takes a lot of trust."

"Mary," he said, waiting patiently for her to lift her face and look at him, "no one else is doing that to you, ever."


End file.
